Even most Britons acknowledge British Empire was a criminal enterprise
Re: “British opium wars not equivalent to poisoning”, Have Your Say, April 23.
Robin Grant displays the unique British sense of humour in suggesting that his ancestors did not force the Chinese people to consume opium at the time of the Opium War in 1840, because “they [the Chinese] were only too happy to take it”. Could that be a new defence argument for lawyers representing the many drug lords here in Thailand?
Robin didn’t waste the chance to take a cheap shot at China. To put the record straight, China did not invade Tibet as he claimed; what China did in 1951 was liberate Tibetans from centuries of feudal serfdom. In November 2008, the then UK foreign secretary David Miliband said, “Like every other EU member state, and the United States, we regard Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China.”
By using the term “We British”, Robin risks misleading readers into thinking that the majority of British people agree with the specious statement he is making.
Yingwai Suchaovanich
