Liu Xiaobo and “Charter 08”: Freedom of Expression and Cultural Relativism

• Main Author: Patrick Kar-wai Poon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: National Sun Yat-sen University 2018-07-01
• Series: Contemporary Chinese Political Economy and Strategic Relations: An International Journal
• Subjects: China; censorship; freedom; dissidents
• Online Access: http://rpb115.nsysu.edu.tw/var/file/131/1131/img/2374/375717122.pdf

Late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo represents the fate of a typical case of a dissident in contemporary China under the Communist regime. The Communist China regime always defends against any criticism of its human rights records, in particular freedom of expression cases like Liu Xiaobo, and brands any such criticism as “interfering with China’s internal affairs” and claims that China is a rule of law country, although what it really means is rule by law under an authoritarian regime but not the Western concept of rule of law. Through looking at Liu Xiaobo’s case and China’s defense of its human rights record with cultural relativist arguments, this article aims at arguing how the Communist China regime fails to address its increasingly significant role in the global community and how the current Chinese regime cannot deny the fact that it is also part of the universalist narrative of human rights concepts as being a core member of international organizations like the United Nations. Therefore, it can only reflect and represent the reality if China can acknowledge the fact that John Rawls’ theory on reflective equilibrium on justice is applicable instead of merely defending itself with cultural relativism and defying the duty of fulfilling the obligation of being a major player in the international community.