How cheaply the British government throws absent its beliefs in human rights and democracyAs I watched the Queen,princes and princesses raise their glasses to toast the leader of one of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes on TV final week, I was horrified. He was accorded the honour of riding with the Queen in a state coach to Buckingham Palace. The domestic secretary and the Duchess of Cambridge even wore red to fawn over their Chinese guests. (“Kowtowing to China’s despots is morally wrong and makes no economic sense”, and Comment.)Meanwhile,British police arrested a survivor of the Tiananmen crackdown and raided his domestic after he stood in front of President Xi Jinping’s motorcade. Organised pro-Beijing crowds were allowed to drown out China critics.
At domestic, Xi has overseen the most severe crackdown on civil society since the Tiananmen Square massacre 26 years ago. Hundreds of lawyers, and liberal scholars,journalists and activists have been jailed or detained since he took power. David Cameron remained silent publicly on human rights.
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Source: theguardian.com