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Author's Note: Though this section offers a glimpse at
Chinese alternative views on the 9/11 tragedy, please understand
that the common Chinese sentiment is empathy and sympathy with the
innocent people killed or hurt in this sad event.
Background
[Source: http://www.creaders.net/,
9/13/2001]
Late on 11 September 2001, the Ministry of Propaganda of CCP issued
an urgent order to news and media agencies nationwide that coverage
of terrorist attacks on America on September 11 should be guided
in the correct direction, i.e. low-profile and sensible reports
on the event, as few as possible detailed descriptions of the terrorist
act, basic tone being criticizing the terrorist act while airing
no "autonomous" critiques. All critiques should follow the official
model set by Xinhua News Agency. However, official control encounters
a hard time when it comes to the fourth media: the Internet. While
open forums on official media sites like the People's Daily,
China Youth Daily, and Eastnet are quick to follow the
government's directions and started to delete or ban counter voices,
alternative views on the event are still legion in other Internet
teahouses.
A Few Alternative Perspectives
- On U.S.'s Threat of War Against Afghanistan
[Source: http://www.dzzk.net/
(Readers' Weekly, vol.103, "Sixty Years Between Pearl Harbor and
9/11 Tragedy"]
- "We all know and have quoted the famous saying: War is the
continuation of politics...The increasing perfection of American
domestic regime over the past years isn't necessarily joined
by an accompanying self-progress in its foreign policies. It
is still a through-and-through imperialist country when viewed
from outside. Like the Lenin regime, the US needs war to maintain
its economic prosperity, and this is its Achilles' point as
well as its lifeline. It needs to create an imaginary enemy
in times of peace or chase out its potential enemies for a living."
- On U.S.'s Threat of War
[Source: http://www.cmilitary.com/,
09/14/2001, "Great Threat to China if U.S. invades Afghanistan"]
- "Before sufficient investigation bares the truth behind the
tragedy, the Americans almost too readily jumped to the conclusion
that it was done by Muslims in Middle East. Though one could
try to understand that its judgment is driven by previous impressions,
the situation isn't so simple as it appears. Indeed the US has
undergone grave damages in terms of people and property from
this attack, and incited national sentiment of war-loving Americans
would understandably endorse a promise of retaliation on the
attackers. However, before situations surrounding the event
are all clear and while investigations are still on the stage
of following extensive leads, it demands more than an emotional
pretext for the US, a country that always claims to be the preeminent
law state and that demands indubitable evidence in every matter,
to take such haste in labeling a certain person or country to
be the perpetrator of such horrendous crime...It was reported
that Bin Laden has long since stopped contacting with the outside
world through telephone for security reasons, which means those
terrorists might be from other sources. Yet the Americans declared
in an almost indisputable tone that Bin Laden is behind all
this, and this quick gesture seems quite suspicious in itself.
My opinion is that the U.S. government is taking advantage of
this event and the American people's fiery sentiment caused
by this and uses it as an excuse to conquer Afghanistan, a super
important strategic place in the Middle East...If the U.S. ever
took hold of Afghanistan (or not necessarily military occupation;
a US-friendly government would work as well), Middle East areas
would be all under its control with: Russia to the north, China
to the east, Pakistan and India to the south, and Iran and Iraq
(two "rogue" nations that have long been a huge pain in the
ass for the U.S.) to the west. Not to mention precious strategic
resources like petroleum and natural gas that the Middle East
is most rich in.
- "American Democracy is Americans' Governance in the World"
[Source: http://www.creaders.org/forums/politics/,
09/13/2001]
- "Ever since World War II the morbid fear and hatred of Arabs
has always been a guideline of American foreign policy. Its
most relentless insults are mostly directed to Arabian countries.
Syria, Sudan, Libya and Iraq are called "rogue nations." For
30 years Israel has committed crimes against the Geneva Convention
and illegally invaded and occupied Arabian land while organizing
terrorist attacks and assassinations, yet the UN's attempts
of sanctions on Israel have all been vetoed by the US.
- "In the American collective consciousness, Iraq suffers the
most vehement hatred and is on the receiving end of vile wishes
of the most durable and cruel punishment. Americans once practiced
the same hatred and punishment on the native Americans: they
were first demonized as barbaric people and then exterminated
with only a few to be chased away into reservation lands and
concentration camps. This almost religious kind of hatred should
not exist in international politics, yet it is the guideline
of the U.S.'s conduct around the world. The punishment that
the US brings to its enemy is always of doomsday scale and style.
In the Vietnam War a US military suggested bombing Vietnam back
to the Stone Age, and the U.S. acted under the same dire principle
in the Gulf War.
- "Though the U.S. president keeps talking about the threat
of biological weapons in Iraq, one should not forget a fact:
the U.S. possesses all the terror weapons that human beings
have ever known. The U.S. is the only country that has used
nuclear weapons against civilians. Seven years ago the U.S.
dumped bombs weighting 6.6 tons in Iraq. It is also reported
that the U.S. and Israel are considering using a neutron bomb
against Baghdad. The U.S. has never experienced world war on
its own land; that is why the majority of its citizens, after
being brainwashed, can afford to talk about doomsday-scale extermination
with such an easy tone.
- "Punishing Iraq has become U.S. 'internal policy'...The Persian
Gulf has become the ideal locale for the U.S. to test out its
new weapons, show off its military muscle, and make U.S. president
appear indeed "president-like" in the world. American media
are very pleased to offer its consumers an opportunity of flourishing
self-righteousness and let them feel good about fighting against
the demon figure of a foreign dictator. Media no longer provide
sober analysis or alternative views but actually become the
mouthpiece of government. The war against Iraq continues in
media.
- "The devastating tragedy that American people are suffering
now is actually caused by their short-sighted, narrow-minded,
selfish governing elite."
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