Tiananmen dissident: China's boom has introduced 'dramatic social conflict'
Student leader Wang Dan calling for a march in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on May 26, 1989.
Chinese economic growth which has excited the West is serving as a catalyst for social turmoil, a prominent Chinese dissident and survivor of the bloody 1989 Tiananmen square crackdown said last week.
"Despite its rapid economic development, China is also experiencing very dramatic or sharp social conflict," said Wang Dan during a speech at the National Press Club in Washington.
Wang said the West needs to understand the social division in China, including the wealthy elites and the other side which "lost their rights during this process of reform, and we call them the vulnerable group."
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The conflict between the two groups will produce major unrest for China, he said.
While some academics and thinktanks say political reform is underway in China, "I don't see any realistic or real political reform in China today," he said.
There are no real elections or real freedoms, including of the press. The military remains under the control of the party.
While some freedoms do exist, compared to 20 years ago, it "is a kind of freedom that is really shaky that the government can terminate at any time."
"So we say that this is just an illusion; it's not true freedom," Wang said.
