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Will Deatherage: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China. My name is Will Deatherage, the producer. Joining me as always is Chen Guangcheng.
Chen Guangcheng: Hello, Will. Hello, everyone. Happy New Year, everyone.
W: Yeah. Happy New Year. And a lot sure has happened over the Christmas season and the holidays, particularly regarding United States international relations. So, Guangcheng, what are we gonna talk about today?
G: Yeah. Today, we can talk about Maduro, right?
W: Yep.
G: The US caught Maduro.
W: From Venezuela, yeah?
G: Yeah, from Venezuela. I think that is very good, you know; that proves the US military is very strong. After the US did this, a lot of Chinese people shared their ideas online. And of course, the CCP used their propaganda to try to inflame hatred towards the US.
W: Okay.
G: Yeah. The CCP said, “Today, the US captured Maduro; tomorrow, they can do it to any country’s leader.” But Chinese people said, “Okay, if you are afraid of the US capturing dictators, and you are thinking maybe you are next, that means you are dictators too.”
W: So, Guangcheng, can you explain: why does the Communist Party not like what the US did in Venezuela?
G: Of course, the CCP is the biggest dictatorship in the whole world. And the CCP always stands with dictators. And that they never think to stand with democratic nations. The CCP understands if they make China become a democratic country, they will lose power.
So, the CCP just thinks [about] how to continue to control power. They never think to make the country better and better. They never think to give rights back to Chinese people.
And since [the] 1990s, the CCP always tries to inflame hatred of the US, and at this time too, the CCP said, “Oh, the US got Maduro just because they want to get the oil.” But I remember in the 1990s, the CCP used that same explanation about why the US went to war against Saddam Hussein.
But a lot of Chinese people responded to that [and] said, “You should know, the United States has a lot of oil under the ground. So, they don’t need Venezuela’s oil.”
W: Right.
G: And you should know, after Maduro rigged the election, the CCP got access to a huge percentage of Venezuela’s oil.
W: Right.
G: Yeah. So, you can see, a lot of Chinese people, they understand the situation. They never believe the CCP’s mouthpiece. And of course, a lot of Chinese people online said, “When will the US stand up to help us like Venezuela?”
W: Nice.
G: So, that is so good. But in the Western countries, a lot of media, they just criticized the US [for doing] this in Venezuela, right?
But even in China, a lot of people support the US to do that. They hope the US [will] do more [things] like this, not just the small dictators. The US should think [about] how to get the biggest dictators out of power.
W: So, you mentioned that China was very dependent on Venezuela for its oil, right?
G: Yeah.
W: So, do you think that there’ll be long-term consequences on the CCP and China’s economy because of this?
G: Of course. I think that will become a big influence. Maybe the CCP [will] have to think [about] how to get more oil from Russia or from the Middle East.
W: Gotcha.
G: Yeah. But Iran has a problem too.
W: Right.
G: Since two weeks ago, the Iranian people went into the street to protest to change the regime. They started in the beginning of January. So, now, a lot of people [have] asked the US to help the people in Iran.
And if Iran’s regime is torn down by the people, I think the CCP cannot keep getting the oil from Iran too.
W: Gotcha. Interesting.
G: So, yeah, usually, the Chinese people should be worried they don’t have the oil to use.
W: Right.
G: But now, they still hope the Western countries join hands with the US to tear down [the] Iran regime.
W: Right. Yeah.
G: And next stop: help them to tear down CCP.
W: Yeah. No. That’d be great.
G: Yeah. You can see a lot of Chinese people, they are awake.
W: Yeah. Well, Guangcheng, thank you so much for shedding light on how these international crises in Venezuela and Iran impact Communist China. And it’s good to hear that the Chinese people themselves are, like you say, awake and supportive of the US intervening there too.
So, we’ll continue covering this and we invite our listeners to go to humanrights.catholic.edu to check out our other episodes of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China, as well as on our social media, Facebook, Instagram. And hopefully, Guangcheng, this will be a good year for human rights in China, right?
G: Yes. I hope that after this year there will be no dictators, no authoritarians in the whole world.
W: Thank you, Guangcheng.
G: Yeah. Thank you, Will. Thank you, everyone.
The Catholic University of America’s Center for Human Rights has published a documentary on the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The documentary features world-class human rights experts from former State Department officials, to ambassadors and human rights activists. It can be found on our website at humanrights.catholic.edu.