Letters | 11 February 2012

China’s foreign policy

Sir: As Hillary Clinton just stated, China and Russia ‘neutered’ the UN by vetoing the sanctions on Syria. Russia did it because Syria is an ally with which it does business. China vetoed because it wants no judgments on how it has mauled its own population since ‘Liberation’ in 1949. Beginning with the slaughter of millions of landlords in the early Fifties, through the persecutions of the Great Leap, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen, not to mention the suppression of Uighurs and Tibetans, Beijing never shrinks from internal violence.

It is to Foreign Secretary Hague’s credit that, like Secretary Clinton, he condemned China’s veto. This is almost unheard of in Chinese affairs. It is claimed here and in Washington that Beijing dislikes public criticism — as if everyone else likes it — and prefers straight talking ‘behind the screen’. This is a Western conceit that permits no condemnation, ever, as in the recent meeting here between Prime Minister Cameron and Premier Wen Jiabao.