Page 43 - Issue 58

Vol. 1 Issue 58 August 2023 ELITE

Universal Values: Between China and the West

Abdelrahman Mohamed Ismail-Economics- Third Year- English Section

In 1989 hundreds of thousands of Chinese A change in the tone of government officials in
students protested in Tiananmen Square. Beijing is increasingly being noticed. They used
They shouted for democracy and made a to say that they needed more time to reach
statue similar to that of Lady Liberty in these values whenever questioned about them,
New York and named it the Goddess of but responses of such tone are no longer being
democracy. However, they did not really given. Xi Jinping has been questioning the
mean democracy in the literate meaning of validity of the idea of universal values in

the ruling of the majority, according to one People’s Daily, The CCP’s daily newspaper,
of the leaders of the movement in an claiming that these are just western plots to
interview with BBC. Instead, they were intervene in other countries and are western
asking for freedom, liberty, human rights, rather than universal. Consequently, he also
peace, social progress, equal rights, and believes that “forcing” these “western values”
human dignity. The communist party’s on the rest of the world is racist. He also says it
decision in the end was to label them as is a lie since western countries themselves do
enemies of the party and the nation and not even abide by these values, pointing out to
evacuated the square using force. the colonial era and the discrimination against
These claims were not claimed by the black people in the west. He believes that
Chinese students only. First adopted by the rather than universal values there are common
west, they have spread everywhere else. values instead. He argues that values such as
Statues that symbolize liberty stand in development and peace are common among all
many other countries like Hungary, countries but can be interpreted in a different
Indonesia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Lativia, way in each country. Xi Jinping is also
and from the fall of Berlin wall to the Arab falsifying history by arguing that the concept
Spring, people all over the world shouted of universal values was made by the west after
42 for these values, which makes these values WWII. His words are music to the dictators of
However,
universal.
Chinese the south. But all these allegations are shallow.
the
government argued back then- and still The real reason he does not like these values is
does- that these values are western rather because these values are usually either a cause
than universal and are not applicable for or a result of transition to democracy.
every nation, especially China.