Image:chinadaily
On Monday, October 19 Chinese President, Xi Jinping lands in England on a state visit, as with his recent trip to the US it’s all about expanding and strengthening economic and political influence. An objective that western governments are desperate to comply with, their economies increasingly enmeshed, and dependent upon, trade with China.
The biggest casualty in the drive to secure lucrative commercial relations has been foreign policy and the cynical and illusory promises of ‘positive engagement with China’, that we were assured would encourage and progress human rights, has been exposed as no more than political jargon. It was always a sleight-of-hand, engineered by the sharp suits at the State Department, who were already sold and bought on elevating trade above considerations of human rights. Successive Administrations promoted the concept, while an ever powerful China lobby oiled the wheels across the DC political scene. Money talks and sure as hell it screamed, and does so still to those seeing to profit from deals with China.
No doubt a similar deception was foisted upon folks in the UK, their Foreign Office, with a long history of diplomacy in China has been equally active in appeasing China’s regime, and like their counterparts in 2201 C St Northwest, Washington DC, human rights issues receive platitudes, are ignored or marginalized. Such sensitive an issue cannot after all be allowed to disturb relations, and so there will be no mention during Xi Jinping’s discussions with the British government of Tibet, East Turkistan, far too dangerous subjects, that the Chinese regime has insisted are not open for debate. Nor will a word be raised against the horrors of China’s coercive birth-control program, that has targeted women with forced-sterilizations, fines, detention, removal of housing rights and other penalties. Indeed while the Congressional Executive Commission On China has featured this issue in its 2015 report the UK Foreign Office has chosen complete silence on the subject. So much for an ethical foreign policy!
Meanwhile Tibetans and their supporters will no doubt be planning various protests during Xi Jinping’s visit, power to them, it would be naive though for anyone to expect that the British authorities will be championing the cause of Tibet, even their meager offerings on human rights simply cannot be trusted. After all how can their assurances be believed when on record they choose to ignore the harrowing medical atrocities inflicted upon women across China and occupied territories such as Tibet and East Turkistan!
