Charter 08 was published on the internet this week to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the International Charter of Human Rights. It's an extraordinary document - it calls for an end to one party rule, free elections, an end to Communist Party influence in the military and in the courts. Some 303 Chinese intellectuals, lawyers and officials signed it at great risk to their own freedom. Many of them are now being investigated, and Liu Xiaobo, who is a veteran activist from 1989 is in police custody. You can read the Charter here

Of course I can't, because I live in Beijing, and the website is blocked.

Right now we can't in USA either.

Ah, I don''t know why that link wouldn''t work in the US. I was pleased to see that yesterday The Washington Post ran an editorial on the Charter:

  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/16/AR2008121602476.html  .

But I''m surprised to see in general how little interest the story has generated internationally. Perhaps it''s part of the Olympic syndrome - I sensed, around the time of the Olympics, a decision by news organisations that enough was enough on the human rights story. China had achieved what most developed countries fail to achieve - building vast and impressive facilities on time - and should therefore be given the benefit of the doubt. What''s more, every country which sent athletes was understandably eager for them to succeed, and eager that the competition they were taking part in should not be tainted. I think this also affected coverage. I recently read a letter smuggled from prison by a political prisoner to Jacques Rogge, the President of the IOC, politely pointing out the dire conditions that he and others lived in while the Olympics celebrations took place. It was hard not to feel guilty that we had enjoyed them as much as we did. Perhaps there''s also the sense that a Charter is a Charter, not worth much more than the paper that it''s written on. And of course, if the Charter stands isolated from any other development, that may be the case, nothwithstanding the fact that many people put themselves at considerable risk to produce it. But as I keep saying, 2008 has been a year of incredible stresses for China''s Communist Party. The economic crisis is about to inflict more damage here, in terms of unemployment and resultant social unrest, as it will elsewhere.

If China's economic crisis will bring down its political system, then let it be. Until that day, the majority of the 1.3b Chinese people will carry on with their lives, good or bad. You may accuse CCP of doing all kinds of wrongs, but who can promise a new political system of any kind will fare better in China? A drastic change in the political landscape, I am afraid, may only deepen the woes of China's laobaixing.