Letters

Give India a Break!

It is galling to read Razeen Sally’s contention (“Don’t Believe the India Hype,” May 2009) that India’s economy has no substance and that its future is hazy. While the author is correct about the pace of Indian reforms being rapid initially but slow of late, it is unclear that pace of reforms alone is the cause of India’s problems.

India in the early 1990s was desperate to get out of a severe foreign-exchange crisis. Of late, this desperation has eased to some extent. India has always remained circumspect about unfettered liberalization mainly to insulate itself from instabilities in the global economy and consequently, avoid economic upheaval in its lower social strata. Rapid fluctuations in the fortunes of developed countries these days appear to confirm the wisdom of this line of thinking. The democratic process in India has also been slow and tortuous in contrast to that of its neighbors. However, all alternatives to this process are harmful to India’s downtrodden masses.

Lastly, many of its current problems are being magnified by the global recession. But one expects India to recover very substantially in the near future.

V. Shastry
Pleasanton, CA

What Deng Has Done
Responses to “Zhao Ziyang’s Testament,” posted May 14, 2009

Forget how brutal Deng Xiaoping’s decision to crush students on June 4, 1989 was. Imagine if those naïve students had been successful. Zhao Ziyang would have become a Chinese Gorbachev. China would have been cut off or even descended into civil war. China would be dominated by a foreign government, like it was during parts of the 20th century. With China becoming richer and stronger, I have increasing respect for Deng, and his daring and resolute action in 1989. He saved millions Chinese people and China’s integrity. History will confirm that.

John Wu
via FEER.com

The sad thing is that history will be repeated if there is no true political reform and openness in China. Economic success or stability should not be a reason to hamper progress toward justice and democracy. While the current political leaders are trying their very best to tune down the 20th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown, ironically it demonstrates how hypocritical they are, which in turn justifies the rightful intension and objective to continue the fight to find out the truth of the crackdown. I look forward to reading Zhao’s memoir and hope that more Chinese people would have the chance to reflect and think through the whole incident. Instead of following the Party line, it would be more important to follow your conscience and judgment.

Gloria Chang
via FEER.com