A number of Chinese activists living overseas recently rallied on the Internet, claiming they will return to stage an event next year, or they will besiege overseas agencies of the Chinese government. Mainland scholars the Global Times interviewed on this issue said that those activists have been marginalized in Western countries. Nobody believes they can whip up storms. Making threats online is merely a way for them to feel alive and attract media attention.

Dozens of organizations comprised of overseas Chinese activists exist abroad. But they only have a total number of nearly 200 members. These organizations are in infrequent contact with each other and instead they compete for influence and limited material support.

Talking about politics has become a means to make a living and maintain influence for some. They are also playing an increasingly marginalized and minor role in the West's competition with China nowadays.

Because they have stayed away from China for a long time and are unknown to most young Chinese people, they can hardly influence Chinese domestic public opinion.

Anti-China forces in the Western world have also shifted their attention from those overseas activists. These people desperately need to cause a stir, at least in public opinion. However, it can't possibly affect politics in China but is critical to helping them regain attention in the West.

Due to their long-time separation from the country, the overseas activists haven't experienced the changes that took place in China over the past two decades.

Their understanding of today's China is even incomparable to those held by some Westerners. Their private interests have been cut off from the national interests of China.

Therefore, they expect chaos in China and to promote a dramatic change in their lives. Some of the activists even unite with separatists who advocate "Tibetan independence" or "Xinjiang independence." These will lead them to a dead end.

The lives of those activists abroad have some symbolic meaning, which proves radical political confrontation has no foothold in China.

Overseas activists profoundly affected Chinese public opinion in the 1980s, but later they made alliances and thought they could overthrow the Chinese system. They are now just wasting their lives.

The activists know they have chosen the wrong road, and what they need to do now is to bravely admit and reflect on their mistakes.