Deification of Liu Xiaobo cannot negate his crimes

The West is abuzz with the fervor of deifying Liu Xiaobo. A raft of laurels such as "a great freedom fighter," "a giant of human rights," and "the Mandela of our age" have been conferred by the West on Liu, a Chinese convicted criminal, who just died of liver cancer. Liu seemed to have become a Chinese intellectual mostly praised by the West for the past decades.



However, the compliments for him from the West are a far cry from the judgment of the Chinese mainstream society on him. The conviction of Liu under the Chinese law is what the Chinese society believes he deserved. There might be some people who feel sympathy for him because he had been thrown in prison for so many years. But people who have a similar view with the West and regard him as "a great martyr" or even compare him with Mandela are only a tiny minority.



What Liu had been engaged in was not constructive criticism widely recognized by the Chinese society. He had advocated overthrowing the political system prescribed by the Chinese Constitution and replacing it with the Western political system. He had been flattering the Western society politically. His remarks that China needs to be colonized for 300 years were extremely notorious in China. He was paranoid, naive and arrogant. He had been divorced from the main theme of the Chinese society and therefore became a man of the past, a political agitator and opponent.



The Chinese society is not ignorant. When the ideological weapon of the West is activated, supporting a man convicted under the Chinese law could not be done out of pure and sincere goodwill. The West has never shown such generous "goodwill" to China in any other areas and issues. The public opinion in the West has shown complete selfishness and zero-sum attitude toward China in various disputes and conflicts involving China such as Taiwan, South China Sea and economic issues.



The West uses Liu as a card to play with China and in doing so it attempts to increase the costs for China to improve the internal governance and build cohesion.



Liu threw himself into the lap of Western forces and Western support had become a key source of his influence. However, his influence has breached the fundamental moral principle of Chinese patriotism and posed a challenge to China's stability and national security. This is why the Chinese society opposes and despises him. "Human rights" is a wonderful notion but it has been spoiled by Western forces in a process of playing against China. The "human rights" that the West talks about today implies interfering in China's internal affairs, setting up obstacles to China's development and demonizing China as it continues to develop and prosper. Whenever the West talks about human rights, they always relate it to those who act against the Chinese law and institutional system. The term, to some extent, has become a tool in their bid to play dirty diplomatic tricks and launch political attacks against China.



The harder the West tries to deify Liu, the more it will alert the Chinese society that the outside world is unfriendly or even hostile to China. Those who actively cooperate with the West and become their chess piece will by no means win true respect of the Chinese mainstream society. Liu's case can only help the Chinese society better understand the complexity of the world and allow us to recognize the challenges China is confronted with in its rise as a global power.



Liu's memorial tablet cannot find a place in China's cultural temple. Deification of Liu by the West will be eventually overshadowed by China's denial of him. No matter what was the motive behind Liu's behavior, he was actually a disruptive player to China's development theme during the country's reform and opening-up and a destructive element in China's rise. There are quite a many such followers of the West in China. But can they count on earning a good name in history?





