Any popular perception of the government’s weakness on a nationalist issue is always a major concern for the CCP. Having fallen back on nationalism as the sole legitimising ideology, the CCP cannot afford to be seen as vacillating; that partly explains Beijing’s neurosis amidst the unfolding crisis in Tibet.

Patriotic dissent

If the CCP relies on patriotism to justify its monopoly on power, the Chinese dissidents too present their demands in terms of nationalism. Students protesting for democracy at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in the summer of 1989, saw themselves as inheritors of the May Fourth Movement.

The movement was named after the demonstrations on that date in Peking in 1919, which had expressed outrage against the weakness of the government — that allowed the transfer of German territorial possessions in China to Japan under the Versailles settlement at the end of the First World War.

If the bold Tibetan defiance continues in China, the big question is whether it might create space for Chinese political dissidents to step out into the open. Of special concern for the CCP is the high possibility of protests on June 4 this year — which will mark the 19th anniversary of the Tiananmen revolt.

Many Chinese patriots have long demanded that the CCP change its assessment of the Tiananmen protests, apologise to the nation for the crackdown and offer justice to the victims of June 4, 1989. You can bet all you have on the CCP moving heaven and earth to prevent any commemoration of June 4 this year.

... contd.