Like so much else under Heaven, repression in China has often seemed to go in cycles. Every now and then it has suited the country\u2019s leaders to relax their steely grip on the country and allow a modicum of political liberty.<\/p>\n
Freer criticism in the media has helped give the party a veneer of credibility. Lip-service to the law and due process has won plaudits overseas and boosted the economy at home. So a thaw would set in for a while, a \u201cBeijing spring\u201d\u009d. A freeze would always follow. But, until lately, in each new cycle the springs were seeming warmer and the freezes not quite so harsh. When the country was starting to liberalise, Westerners justified doing business with China on just such grounds. More economic openness would surely lead to more openness of other kinds.<\/p>\n
The latest freeze casts this widespread hope into doubt, for three reasons. The first is the scale of the crackdown. Ai Weiwei, China\u2019s best-known artist and dissident, who was detained at Beijing airport on April 3rd, is only the most notable figure to be caught by it. Calls on the internet for a \u201cjasmine revolution\u201d\u009d have prompted armed police and plain-clothes goons to descend in huge numbers on public places to stop people from \u201cstrolling\u201d\u009d, as a veiled form of protest.<\/p>\n