Beijing
workers tidy up a statue of Mao: Is human rights in China
improving,
as Beijing claims?
China Daily, People's
Republic of China
Americans Shouldn't
Point Fingers on Human Rights
Is the
United States out of line for issuing reports about human rights abuse in other
nations? According to this article from China's state-controlled China Daily,
the United States doesn't give the People's Republic of China enough credit for
the progress it has made over the past thirty years.
The Dalai Lama: The activities of the Nobel Peace Prize winner and renowned champion of non-violence continue to provoke histrionics on the part of Beijing. Beijing regards him as a 'splittest,' while most people in the West regard him as a reasonable man working to improve the lot of his people.
Why does the United States
publish a report every year accusing China of having human rights problems? It
seems that when it comes to human rights, the world leading power is accustomed
to sitting on its moral high horse pointing fingers at others. But it seems
unaware that human rights are a matter of perpetual effort in every nation - and
that none should be audacious enough to brag about its human right record.
True, there is much to be desired
in regard to human rights in China. But the same is true of the United States. We
should never turn a deaf ear or blind eye to the three decades of effort by the
Chinese government to improve human rights for the Chinese people. Meanwhile, Chinese
people themselves have done well standing up to for the rights they are meant
to enjoy.
Anyone who visited China
before 1978 and compared the situation to the one that exists today would
undoubtedly say that great progress has been made in terms of Chinese social
democracy. For example, China's people have much more freedom of speech now
than before 1978. And they have many more channels available to them to allow
their voices to be heard. In setting public policy, the Chinese government has
never paid as much attention as it does today to public opinion.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
When evaluating human rights
conditions, one mustn't forget that this country has a history of over 5,000
years, and it's not easy to shake off the influence of tradition. It takes time
for new ideas to take root and for Chinese people to change their way of doing
things.
But just look at the great
change that has taken place over the past three decades since the dawn of
reform and opening up in 1978. Can anyone say that China is what it was three
decades ago?
Why, then, do some Americans
always roll their eyes at what this country desires? Apart from being used to
acting as the global police, it seems that they're stuck in a Cold War
mentality, believing that China is a Communist State.
I hope more Americans come to
China and see with their own eyes the changes that have taken place. It would
likely be an eye-opening and mind-changing experience.
Don’t point fingers at others
on matters of human rights. If you're really concerned with China's human rights
situation, please do more to help China develop, which is what would
undoubtedly do the most to promote political reform.
