CHINESE REACTION:MINDFUL OF the parallels being drawn between Tahrir Square and Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government and state-run media focused on stability and social order in its coverage of the Egyptian protests and the resignation of Hosni Mubarak.
“China has kept a close eye on the situation in Egypt and hopes the latest developments help restore national stability and social order at an early date,” foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on the Xinhua news agency.
While there has been coverage of the events in Cairo, it has generally been perfunctory, with most media relying on basic copy from Xinhua, with the focus on containing any possible spillover in China that could threaten single-party communist rule. Stability has been the byword of all the reports.
The transition of power in Egypt after demonstrations on Tahrir Square is deeply sensitive for Beijing. Back in 1989 when China’s pro-democracy demonstrators took to the streets of Beijing and occupied Tiananmen Square, the People’s Liberation Army crushed the uprising and thousands are believed to have perished in the crackdown.
China’s authoritarian government keeps a firm grip on media and comes down hard on dissent and any public displays of dissatisfaction.
“It is believed Egypt has the wisdom and capacity to find proper solutions to overcome the current crisis. Social stability should be of overriding importance. Any political changes will be meaningless if the country falls prey to chaos in the end,” ran an editorial in the English-language China Daily.
The commentary also underlined China’s oft-stated policy of non-interference in other countries’ business, which is Beijing’s standard line when its human rights are criticised or when mention is made of its tough line on dissent.
There were ongoing blocks on online searches of words such as “Egypt” and “Mubarak” on microblogging sites, although it was possible to get around some of these restrictions.