News coming from out of nowhere. China's embassy in Bucharest just recently honored the last chief of Romania's despised, communist-era secret police. His name, Iulian Vlad, the Securitate chief from 1987 to 1989, was given an award by the embassy this past Sunday for "his role in developing relations between the two countries," but this news didn't emerge until Wednesday.
Romania is a member of both the European Union and NATO, yet it still holds strong traditional links with China.
"This award 'is like a phantom from the past,' said Stelian Tanase, a political commentator, suggesting that the Chinese rewarded those who suppressed dissent rather than encouraged democracy. Romania is still coming to terms with the Securitate, which had an estimated 760,000 informants, and whose files have never been properly opened."
According to the article, Vlad was sentenced to 25 years in prison for suppressing the 1989 anti-Communist revolt, but was released after four.
I was surprised to see that Romania and China had strong ties with one another, especially after the communist era was much despised by the Romanian people. Vlad, who Romania is still coming to terms with, is currently deputy chairman of the Romanian-Chinese House, a bilateral friendship group. I wonder why China would choose to, at this moment in time, pull this topic back up and honor a leader that was not well received in Romania and who had even been thrown into prison. Hopefully they know what they are doing and don't upset too many of their current relations with Romania.
I was also surprised. I wonder how this affects Romanian relations with European countries, especially those in the EU or NATO. Very interesting news.
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