Dangerous, that is, according to the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and Western according to the same source – though normblog readers might take a different view about so attempting to limit their geographical application. Here’s a report from the New York Times:
The Chinese Communist Party has warned officials to combat “dangerous” Western values and other perceived ideological threats, in a directive that analysts said on Monday reflected the determination of China’s leader to preserve top-down political control even as he considers economic liberalization.
The warning emerged on Chinese news Web sites that carried accounts from local party committees describing a directive from the Central Committee General Office, the administrative engine of the party leadership under Xi Jinping.
The central document, “Concerning the Situation in the Ideological Sphere,” has not been openly published, and most references to it disappeared from Chinese news and government Web sites by Monday afternoon, apparently reflecting censors’ skittishness about publicizing such warnings. But what did come to light in the local summaries exuded anxiety about the party’s grip on opinion.
What follows gives a clue to the content of those dangerous values: media freedom, judicial independence, the influence of the internet, political liberalization, ideological non-conformity. It’s a worthwhile reminder to those who think that liberal democracy is somewhere between a sham and so hollowed out these days as to be nearly inoperative that there are still differences that matter in this area and that the beneficiaries and subjects of dictatorial power understand what they are well enough.