In his article on China’s latest tool for suppression of minorities, the “ethnic unity” law, Simon Tisdall seems to take it as read that western governments will continue to pay lip service to notions of human rights in China while pursuing short-term economic goals, ultimately destructive to their own productivity (President Xi never wastes a good crisis. As Iran, Ukraine and Palestine distract the world, he tightens his grip, 8 August).
This has been the pattern since June 1989, the Tiananmen Square massacre. His faint hope that the young urban Chinese might overturn Xi’s regime is a judgment on the failure of western governments to show any foresight, integrity, effective diplomacy, joined-up thinking or action. They rely on the self-sacrifice of individuals such as Jimmy Lai, Lobga Rangzen and countless – often to us nameless – individuals who put their lives on the line while we wring our hands and weep crocodile tears.
