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Caixin Blog: Why Do We Need a Truth Commission?

On November 30, 2015, Caixin, a media that is closely related with Xi Jinping’s leadership camp, published an introductory article in its blog section titled, “Why Do We Need a Truth Commission?” The writer of the article is a former public policy reporter from Caixin Media. The article talked about sensitive messages such as the investigation of a dictatorship’s crimes in terms of human rights violations, and the criminal trials of the human rights violators.

The article explained “Why We Need a Truth Commission?” It said, “In many cases, a Truth Commission, on behalf of a country, actively reflects on the crimes the country committed in its history. The Truth Commission responds to questions, doubts and petitions related to these crimes, holds the criminals accountable, compensates the victims, and even starts political reform.” “Some Truth Commissions conduct special investigations on important cases; they may even clearly point out the perpetrator’s name(s), or openly publicize the name(s) of the government leader(s) of the country who at that time, were responsible for the crimes.”

“In China today, many taboos on historical topics have still not been lifted. As a whole generation is getting older and older, more and more people want to reflect on, confess, and redress the atrocities perpetrated in the repeated political movements after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. After some scholars and media introduced the concept of a Truth Commission, the concept has quietly entered the public view.”

Source: Caixin, November 30, 2015
http://lanfang.blog.caixin.com/archives/137223