This is why we need to fight to keep habeas corpus in our own Western Laws. It is vitally important to the defense against tyranny.

Thanks for the info David.

The Chinese government is the most despicable regime currently in power. I’d rate it worse than what’s in Burma, parts of Africa, Iran, and North Korea. The CCP has consummate power over the lives of over one billion people–and the PRC’s aggressively dishonest foreign policy has a huge and pernicious effect on global politics (I’d be more than happy to list examples, but that would be getting away from the point of this thread, not to mention that it would be a hell of a long post). North Korea postures, but it isn’t nearly as powerful or as threatening as China. Bizarre Confucian power relationships make political rebellions practically unthinkable, and the PRC’s current government isn’t going anywhere. Democracy in general is of the least interest to many Chinese, and this is why Tiananmen Square won’t happen again anytime soon. (Chinese students, when I asked about it, invariably laughed nervously and said it was “very interesting”.)

Good luck to Gao Zhisheng. He’s either rotting away in a 勞改 (laogai) prison camp (yes, present-day China has a massive Gulag system that the Western media never reports on) or has had his organs harvested and is a cold body at this point.

Grim, but true. And before anyone gets mad, let me stress that these comments are limited to CCP officials only and do not reflect my attitude about the majority of Chinese people in any way.

So we are left with only moral persuasion, which isn’t much after our official policy of rendition and torture.

So I guess we are left with just people here and there doing impromptu boycotts of Chinese made clothes and computer parts, and perhaps a sternly worded letter (in English) to the Communist party. Not at all effective, evidently.

We own them more than they own us.

I guess that’s not meaningful enough?

I perceive some miscommunication.

A former president said it, just before saying that Chinese and Saudi relationships with powerful American interests would prevent any meaningful change in course

Our relationship with China (can’t disagree about Saudi Arabia) has pushed hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. I guess that’s not meaningful enough?

Joe T. Guest: JPG — actually, it isn’t politically appealing for them to take a position on Tibet any more.The Chinese punish politicians who do.That’s why our president, declined to meet with the Dalai Lama.Who, by the way, is a big hitter…

I respectfully disagree. While there are quite some negative consequences towards Beijing to greet the Dalai-lama, Western leaders do so because they know it is a sexy political stand to choose, given the overwhelming popular sympathy felt for Tibet. It may not be a wise diplomatic move, but it pays, politically speaking, to gain popular support.

I started to avoid products from China years ago, and stopped knowingly buying Chinese food (food from China, not hot and sour soup) a year or two ago, when the quality issues became impossible to ignore.

China and Saudi Arabia are the two countries Americans will most regret their voluntary relationships with (which, after developments in Iraq, is saying one hell of a lot). I do not take credit for that statement. A former president said it, just before saying that Chinese and Saudi relationships with powerful American interests would prevent any meaningful change in course, barring a catastrophe.

The differences between our approaches to China and Cuba are a vivid indictment of the way the United States government interacts with other nations.

Thank you Mr. Kopel for this post. I spent several years hating every post you made, but you are slowly converting me. lol

Of course I’m just pointing out the two-faced nature of it all. Personally I don’t think that it’s really any of our business (officially speaking — if private individuals want to exert pressure because they feel it is the morally right thing to do, that’s cool). If the people of China don’t like the evil government they have, they should overthrow it. Sure they aren’t allowed private ownership of arms (oops, big mistake there), but they have more bodies to throw at the problem than any other country on Earth. With that many people in the pool of potential troublemakers, even poorly armed (molotov cocktails, random stabbings of government officials, etc.) they could do a lot of monkey wrenching. They are either happy with the current state of affairs, or not unhappy enough to upset the apple cart. Their decision.

Are you kidding? My elected official has sold his soul to Chinese like the rest of Congress. We are in hock to the Chinese for nearly a trillion dollars. Where are my elected officials going to get the money to finance, their trillions of dollars of overspending?

I can’t get my Congressman’s staff to tell me his position two hours before a bill comes up for a vote. All I get is “I don’t know.” I get the same answer to every question I have ever posed. He just doesn’t care what his constituents think. He gets his marching orders from Pelosi.