November 19, 2006
Marie Beaulieu, Times Colonist (Victoria, British
Columbia)
SECTION: COMMENT; Pg. D3
I strongly disagree with putting dollars ahead of human rights. Negotiations with China regarding approved tourism destination status have created a rare opportunity for rights groups to expose China, where torture and corruption are widespread.
Consider the recent news of organ-harvesting from live Falun Gong practitioners and Tibetans being shot like dogs at the border.
Can the free world really afford to sweep the sad reality under the carpet to sustain such a barbaric regime? It is clear that the jobs that are lost to China's cheap labour and slavery offset the gains. We had better think twice before selling our souls to such brutal dictatorships.
Marie Beaulieu,
Victoria.