Don’t forget the atrocities committed by the Chinese Communist Party over the last 100 years

The free world must work to stop the Chinese Communist Party from using its economic muscle to hoodwink gullible leaders into supporting aims which run counter to freedom and democracy

Chinese Communist Party members and leader Xi Jinping at the Sixth Plenum (AP)

Like many other civilisations in the world, China’s more than 4,000 years of civilisation has greatly benefitted us all. But, not the Communist Party of China (aka Chinese Communist Party or CCP) and its brutal regime, which celebrates 100 years of its existence this year.

Instead, we have all directly experienced an unprecedented level of pain and suffering throughout the world. Had the Chinese regime been a bit more open and transparent about the source of the coronavirus then there might have been fewer deaths. As things stand, over 5 million people have died worldwide from Covid-19. There are ongoing announcements of fourth and fifth waves of lockdowns in countries around the world.

In Tibet and Xinjiang (East Turkestan), the CCP and its brutal regime is still implementing hardline policies against the Uyghur Muslims and Tibetan Buddhists. In China proper, the persecution of Falun Gong and Christian faith groups are living examples of the deliberate crushing of what should be private beliefs. And the organ harvesting of innocent Falun Gong practitioners and other persecuted minorities represents a serious crime being committed by the Chinese state.

According to the party’s documents, the Communist Party of China was founded on 23 July 1921. The first National Congress of the CCP was held on the same date. However, the CCP officially marks 1 July as its founding anniversary. With only about 50 members at the beginning of 1921, the CCP has grown over these past hundred years and is currently estimated to have a membership of 90 million. Needless to say, however, that millions are also quitting the party each year as people begin to learn the true nature of this brutal regime.

Mao Tsetung, regarded as the most prominent figure of the Chinese Communist Party in modern history, enjoyed absolute power. Mao’s catastrophic actions against his own people were ruthless and inhumane. He did not hesitate to deploy any means within his power to defeat his opponents. His fatal policies incurred immeasurable losses – of people, traditions and artefacts – not only in mainland China but across China’s occupied territories, which include Tibet, East Turkestan and Southern Mongolia. The Great Famine alone, from 1959 to 1962, cost 20 million lives or more.

In the memoirs of Mao Tsetung’s personal physician, Dr Zhisui Li’s The Private Life of Chairman Mao, he records that Mao “did not care” when millions of people were dying during the Great Famine. Recalling Mao’s ruthlessness, Dr Li wrote: “In 1957, in a speech in Moscow, Mao said he was willing to lose 300 million people – half of China’s population. Even if China lost half its population, Mao said, the country would suffer no great loss. We could produce more people.”

As the CCP celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding, the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM) is releasing a report on the top 100 atrocities committed by the CCP over this period.

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The CCP may feel pride in having something to celebrate but the cost has been enormous. Millions of people in China and its subjugated territories have nothing to celebrate, and Chinese people in Taiwan and Hong Kong live in fear of what may be in store for them if the CCP continues unopposed.

President Xi Jinping, who has recently anointed himself on a par with Mao Tsetung, is another crazed Chinese dictator in the 21st century. Contrary to his talk of “win-win” schemes, through his Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in countries around the world Xi Jinping is plainly pursuing his expansionist global ambition. It seems that Xi’s political and military intentions behind the BRI projects are poised to cause severe threats to global peace and security.

Awareness of the reprehensible and ongoing actions carried out by the CCP under Xi Jinping is crucial at a time when the regime is exporting its malign activities outside mainland China. The free world must do all it can to stop the CCP from using its economic muscle to hoodwink gullible leaders into supporting its self-interested aims, which run counter to freedom and democracy. The CCP and its rogue leaders must be held accountable for their crimes against humanity over the past 100 years.

Tsering Passang is the founder and chair of the Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities (GATPM)