A noble defence of democracy against dictatorship, although…
Re: “Global appeasement of bullying China is a shameful spectacle”, Have Your Say, yesterday.
I agree with Nigel Pike’s views on (ostensibly) Communist China. In his excoriating diatribe, he mentions the Chinese annexation of Tibet. He might also wish to include the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, when the people were murdered by the People’s Army for wanting more open dialogue between government and the populace, and with it the greater freedoms that we, in our democracies, take for granted.
The South China Sea issue is, for want of a better phrase, barrier building by Beijing against what it perceives as encroaching foreign military influence in the area. There may be a prima facie case here, with due acknowledgement to the US 1823 Monroe Doctrine, which opposed (European) colonialism (and with it greater influence) in the Americas. Now, an uncharitable mind might possibly draw parallels with this and the US military footprint close to China’s sovereign territory. One may wish to draw one’s own conclusions on that, however.
What tickled me, though, is Nigel’s noble (and, in fairness quite correct) defence of Taiwan, what he terms a free “democratic” country, while displaying an avowedly contemptuous dislike of democracy himself. Oh, the irony...
Dr Frank
Bangkok
