By Ouyang Fei

(Clearwisdom.net) Facing human rights denouncements from the international community, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has worked out an absurd statement about "Chinese characteristics," claiming that "the right to survive supersedes all human rights." The CCP often uses this as an excuse to reject criticism of the human rights situation in China.

The "right to survive" means enough food and clothing. Upon first hearing this, it sounds much more important than anything else, because it concerns people's lives. After hearing this propaganda for a period of time, a lot of Chinese people accept it. Then, the CCP boosts their courage and propagates the idea throughout the world.

According to some scholarly research, during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 51% of the world GDP. By the time the Republic of China (ROC) was established, China's GDP was 27% of the world GDP. By the eleventh year of the ROC, it was 12%. In the year the CCP took power, China's GDP was 5.7%, but in 2003; it had lowered to only 2.1% of the world GDP.

By the percentage of the Gross Domestic Product of the world, China's economy has been continually sliding downward during the last 150 years. This was especially so in the last half of the 20^th century when the CCP ruled. Unlike the chaotic situation of the many years of war during the rule of the Nationalist Party, the sliding of the economy during the rule of the CCP occurred during a peaceful era. The United Nations considers the poverty line to be 365 US dollars per capita. In China, how many people's annual incomes are below this level?

As a matter of fact, this number clarifies the truth of the Chinese economy, but this can hardly be the reason to deprive people of freedom of speech. As for how the poverty was created, we'll explain that in a follow-up article. Suffice it to say that this is another example of the CCP's rascal nature, putting the "right to survive" in place of human rights.

The CCP has been in power for 55 years, but they are still talking about "enough food and clothing." This simple fact proves the severity of the disasters that the CCP has brought to China. In China under the rule of CCP, people's basic human rights are reduced to the mere right to survive. The CCP denies its people internationally recognized freedoms of belief, speech, and other freedoms.

The most important human rights include freedom of speech, and have nothing to do with whether you are hungry or not. The sentence "I am hungry" is heard when someone freely cries out that he or she doesn't have enough food. In fact, the hungrier the person is, the more eager this person wants to say that sentence.

Though the problem of food and clothing has not been completely solved in China, many people do have enough food and clothing, and some have become wealthy. Why are these people forbidden to speak? Shouldn't they at least be able to say something to help those in hunger? Thus, it can be seen that the statement that "the right to survive is above human rights" is a sheer fallacy.

Starving people are forbidden to cry out for food, and well-fed people are forbidden to cry out to help them.

A lot of people forced into homelessness to avoid continued persecution for practicing Falun Gong did not initially have the problem of food and clothing. It is because they insisted on speaking the truth that they were forced to lose their families and property, and now face a "survival crisis." Weren't their survival rights infringed upon because their human rights are denied?

Human rights are universal. The CCP doesn't honor human rights because they are afraid their crimes will be exposed, and they will subsequently lose power. The statement "the right to survive is above human rights" is nothing but a lie used to fool the Chinese people and the international community.

Posting date: 12/19/2004
Original article date: 12/19/2004
Category: Open Forum
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2004/12/8/90939.html

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