Real civil rights are denied in ChinaJay Nordlinger Real civil rights, not fake, Beinartian ones, are denied in China. Jian-li Yang, whom this column has been following, has been sentenced to five years in prison. (The website dedicated to his fate is here.) Will this be allowed to create a ripple in U.S.-Chinese relations? Barney Frank (Jian-li's congressman) said, "I don't think they [China's rulers] understand what harm they are doing to their desire to be accepted as a leading nation among other nations by this relentless and unjustified persecution of this brave and principled man." I beg to differ: I figure that the Chinese figure they are doing no harm, and that they are right. According to a news report, "Some 67 legislators sent a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao . . . warning that bilateral ties could suffer if Beijing did not release the 40-year-old Yang." Mark my words, dear ones: Bilateral ties will not suffer. They never do. The Chinese could roast Jian-li alive in the middle of Tiananmen Square, and the nightly news would still be showing pictures of hijinx in that Iraqi prison. As the mayor of New York would probably say (it is his favorite phrase): Get real.
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