The Chinese Premier warned Britain against “finger-pointing” and “lecturing” the world’s most populous nation about human rights abuses yesterday as he signed trade agreements worth £1.4bn with David Cameron.
The carefully-orchestrated three-day visit by Wen Jiabao had included a visit to William Shakespeare’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, a tour of a Birmingham car factory and a show of pomp in London, away from demonstrators.
But the key moment came yesterday when the two leaders witnessed 24 trade agreements and memorandums of understanding between the two countries, covering banking, mining, oil and gas, alcohol and even supply of 800 pigs to China.
Yes, let’s not let little things like slave labor and human rights abuses get in the way of us making money.
Human life is so cheap in China that the government turns a blind eye to such complaints. With over a billion people, what does it matter to them if they treat human rights as a mere trifle? What do a few hundred thousand slaves matter to Chinese companies who turn their labors into huge profits? The well-known Chinese businessman’s love of money has no bounds, it seems, and if the government encourages this, then what do human lives matter to them, except as a source of labor? Look at what happened to those who lost their ancestral homes when the Three Gorges Dam……an ecological disaster, as it turned out……was built. The Chinese government deserves to be called on the carpet!
And if there’s one thing that they can’t stand, it’s [b]loss of face.[/b] They’re afraid of “looking bad” in the eyes of others.
Did anyone notice the look on Mr Cameron’s face when Mr Wen spoke? Perturbed, wasn’t he?
The Chinese can do whatever they want. The West owes them so much money that Mr Wen and his cadre can act as he pleases. We (or at least our governments) have placed ourselves in this predicament.
Don’t forget how many US companies have built plants in China. Just look at how many items have “Made in China” on them. Given how much of our production has moved there, the trillions we owe them, and their rapid modernizing of their military, when China does challenge us in an open confrontation, China won’t have to fire a shot. All China will need to do is stop the cargo ships.