I have heard the same thing said about the laogai system. Yet for all his efforts, Wu seems to have found few allies. American business lusts after the Chinese market. I have talked with university and business representatives who expressed vague hopes about how their contacts in China will help democratize the country. But those promises ring hollow as the Beijing gerontocracy is strengthened, not weakened, by economic expansion.
Today there is no political freedom and few individual rights.
When it comes to China, American corporations and universities appear to love commerce more than they loathe communism. George Bush showed that he didn't really care about human rights in China. Neither does Bill Clinton. Similarly, there is no difference of opinion on this issue between Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu. There was no Jewish population to save in those cases, but we still spoke out.