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Listed below are comments made by thompeg between Friday, 27th June 2008 and Tuesday, 5th August 2008.

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A cup of tea with China's police 8:17pm on 05 Aug 2008 So you meet the police again James ?

They may have been a bit more polite because its olympic time !

How many Chinese journalists in England would meet a policeman, let alone keep being followed,harassed , detained, sent away?

What do you expect in a brutal police state where a citizen can be tortured and put to death for merely saying "the wrong things" to a foreigner ?

The Chinese leadership clique in Beijing are scared James. Bullies are always scared. Bullies are always arrogant.
And these Chinese bullies fear journalists more than terrorists : because you can tell the world what you actually see------things which are not shown to the ordinary Chinese people.

The Beijing clique are afraid of world opinion; because if anyone knew the full depth of their actions , they would be in The International Court in The Hague with other international criminals : I wonder how they would defend Tiananamen murders of students, thousands of innocent Tibetan monks in forced labour camps, the attempted genocide of the Tibetan nation ( UN Report), the imprisonment and torture of Han who dare to say a word of criticism about the Beijing clique.The bullies are particularly adept with electric cattle prods, I assume (did you see the recent Panorama programme from the miserable land that is known as China?).

Hey James, do you think you've just sent a report from a police state ???
Freedom in China 7:41pm on 04 Aug 2008 James----not the best article you've ever written, in my opinion !
I can see that you are trying to instigate a debate about two disparate arguments : one is that China has no freedom; and the second one is that China DOES have freedom (even if only relative to the previous generation).

But , your article simply fails.

You are not comparing "like with like" in trying to set out your 2 "arguments".

The simple fact must surely be: there is either freedom or.......NOT. It does not matter if there is a bit more freedom compared to 20 years ago or not.

In political terms freedom is simply whether or not a society chooses its own government, sets its own laws, allows its citizens to change such governments and laws, allows freedom of speech, generally or wholly freedom of the press and news, freeedom to do anything that the society's elected representatives have agreed should be legal...........and all such things that we in the West take for granted. How fortunate we are.

China has none of the above---period !

There are also "Inalienable Human Rights", which do have international definitions if the reader cares to look them up: though basically they are often abbreviated to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". These are considered the norm for a civilised society. To achieve them, it must logically follow that a framework is set in place ( elections, freedom of speech and the press, independent judiciary, etc etc) which are completely absent in China.
One of the most "human" of inalienable rights is the right of reproduction----
China does not even allow that !

Do you know how many times the United Nations has issued Human Rights Violations evidence against China ?: the number is now in the tens of thousands. It is amazing , as a large country which sits on the UN Permanent Security Council and should be setting an example of inalienable human rights (like the other Permanent Members)........that China is allowed to remain at the UN at all.

So there is no real scope in your most recent article, James, for the usual debate and "pro's and con's" and differing views.

China, ( along with similar nightmare states such as North Korea, Iran,Zimbabwe and other examples).......is a police state, ruled by unelected tsars who allow citizens no say in law-making, no right of speech or worship, no press freedom, no right to form trades unions, no rights to protest :

who decided it is a crime (resulting in 20 years imprisonment and torture or death) to have in your possession a picture of His Holiness The Dalai Lama ? The Tibetan people ? No. The Chinese people ? No !!!

Like all "laws" in China, they are decided by a few feudal-style emperors in The Forbidden City.

No, James : no room for any debate on your latest article.

You either have inalienable human rights or you don't.

The USA, Canada, Australia, EU and hundreds of civilised countries have inalienable human rights----they are free.

The nightmare police states ----China , North Korea, Iran, Syria,Burma, and others (which are in a world minority thank God) do not have freedom or inalienable human rights (the rights that make us civilised) ; China can't even brush such basic things aside by
claiming to be rich-----they are one of the poorest countries on earth per capita.But they are surely top of the arrogance league....does that count for anything ?

Because you make such an effort to galvanize our brains and typing skills James, I have commented on a debate which patently only has one side to any possible "debate".

But the saddest issue is perhaps not the total lack of inalienable human rights in China : it is the fact that so many of the citizens of that country hide their eyes and persuade themselves that they do have freedom and all the rights of civilised countries.
Sad or what ?
Olympic predictions 7:49pm on 01 Aug 2008 Short response to most recent article (which is as interesting and topical as usual):

Another thought-provoking article.
In response to the points raised in it :

1. If the Chinese win most Gold Medals, it will merely mean that any totalitarian state that takes children away and trains them like soldiers for years within a strict regime......can do anything. We know that already.

2. I fervently hope that at least one athlete or visitor has the courage to make a visible gesture about human rights, or hold up a photo of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, or show a picture of tanks in Tiananamen Square 20 years ago.

3. I hope that some events are cancelled , because Beijing is one of the most polluted cities on earth ( even in its present "forcibly" cleansed state---that will be overturned as soon as the Olympics are over). How could the Olympic Committee allow athletes to endure the filth of Beijing?

4. Let's hurry up and get the saddest and most disliked Olympics in history....
completely over; and get the Torch back to civilisation.
Olympic evictions 4:33pm on 19 Jul 2008 No China-watcher is surprised either that an authoritarian dictatorship can arbitrarily evict 100s of people , or that they beat and bully the poor homeowners who "make some sort of stand".
Nor are we surprised that huge amounts of money have been spent to make flowers grow all along the roads in August ( let's hope the enforced banning of construction work and cars allows the sun to reach the flowers....).

Your most telling remark was about how some Beijing residents who "make a stand" against eviction may be afforded some degree of "protection" due to the ruling clique's effort to ensure "no trouble or brutality in Beijing" during the Olympic Games.
Others , outside Beijing , as you imply , will not be so lucky.And the further from Beijing , the worse it will be.

I think the Beijing Clique may wish to think of the words of His Holiness The Dalai Lama : "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive."

I hold out very little hope that the words will mean anything to thugs who evict the elderly from their homes, or imprison innocent people who shout a slogan of freedom, or send so many to the forced labour camps full of ordinary people who had a photo of the Dalai Lama, or .........anybody who stands up and says " I do not like the way things are in this "controlled" and
strict land.

I wonder, James, if your blog could end every article with a quote by His Holiness The Dalai Lama ???

Just joking , James------I have seen replies to your articles and I know that many of the regular contributors who think they rule the world ( instead of living in one of the world's poorer countries) would have apoplectic fits....
National sentiment 8:55pm on 16 Jul 2008 An interesting article as usual , James. Thank you.....meant to encourage us to think and debate ( or in the case of Chinese "centre-of-the-worldists" another opportunity to spin the Beijing clique's mindsets).
Reply #6 by democracy101 impressed me a lot----it was well-considered and most interesting to read: thank you, sir.
Personally, I believe the "century of humiliation" theory has little or no bearing on anything that impinges on China's "national feelings" today (unless it is ever needed to be used by the Communist Party for some particular argument----in which case, many of the population will also use the same argument !).
My own belief, knowing many Chinese outside China, as well as people in China, independent Tibet, and in Hong Kong... is that today's "national feelings" derive from the change in the "Communist" (now merely "authoritarian dictatorship") view of how to "run" China since the early 1990s.
It saw the fall of the Soviet system; it was scared witless by its own citizens seeking their own freedom in Tiananamen Square. So it devised the policy of "communism is still communism but now has nothing to do with communism"; instead it tries to copy the market economies of the Republic of China in Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore and others.
The Beijing leaders definitely found a "winner" in that new idea. With a huge population, all "controlled" ( what free country could stop construction work and motor cars in a shoddy attempt to clean up a dirty city before an Olympic Games ??); and with many "forced labour" camps in Tibet and elsewhere .......the new system has worked very well indeed. The world is being flooded by China's cheap ( and mainly inferior) products, just as we were deluged with them in the 1960s-80s from Taiwan, and from South Korea in 1970s-90s.
Just as Taiwan and South Korea felt great pride in its achievements, the Chinese are now having similar feelings.
And it is fuelled as much as possible by the Beijing leaders as a way of clinging on to power : "we are all becoming prosperous and soon the world will be at our feet".
I believe the current Chinese feelings of national "pride" are really that new ; and it is being used and milked for all it is worth by the dictators. Many dictatorships in history have used devices for instilling "national pride" : many were brutal regimes, trying to keep down risk of any internal unrest.
They, with the new economic system, "binding " together Chinese in a sense of "we are doing well", "we will overtake the west and they are jealous", "don't trust foreigners, they wish to keep us down" etc etc etc.
The leadership have done well.
Their arrogance and feeling of supremacy are now being passed to an unknown number of Chinese.
But, just as the economic upsurges in the economies of several Asian nations, eg RoC (Taiwan) and South Korea......has not really advanced their
overall position in the world -----so will China find that its cheap goods policy will eventually come to an end, its economy will slow; and it will remain on the same plateau without rising any further. This is what the history of similar of similar economies (and they had the advantage of having deomocratic rule and free speech) teaches us.
Even now, as its economy booms, China's Gross National Income is $1,000 . That compares to GNI's in the West , Australia etc of $30,000-$40,000 ! It is difficult to see China even achieving the very good Gross National Income of RoC Taiwan and South Korea.
When the end of the "boom" arrives, the leadership will have to come up with a new strategy...or face once again the strong human demand for elections, freedom of speech, a free press, personal liberties : just as the cream of young Chinese inteligensia were seeking in the late 1980s.
Until then, we will continue to see the xenophobia, the arrogance and the fear that holds together the frail Chinese view of "national pride".
It is all summed up for me by a remark made in response to one of James' previous articles. Someone called "wonderfulchinese" told me to ask those demonstrators of 20 years ago what they think now ( and how wrong they felt). I am afraid that I could never do what wonderfulchinese wanted me to do : you see..........
so many of those brave young Chinese cannot be asked anything at all---they were massacred by tanks and cannot answer. Somehow , as I remember the film footage of that single student making a tank stop , turn and keep on turning ( one of the most memorable newsreels ever shown), I have a feeling that he would not answer in the way wonderfulchinese would wish.......
I find China a sad country, where a certain percentage of the population is being given a taste of economic "goodies" after years of stagnation; and when the economic "goodies" slow down and stop..........let us see what "national pride" really means ?
Pollution problem 10:08pm on 15 Jul 2008 What on earth was the Olympic Committee think of when allowing this polluted city to host such a premier event ?
Yes, China has a lot of (poor) people; yes they might be persuaded to be better people if the world allows them to join in ( ???); yes, they may try to act responsibly with their abysmal record on human rights........if we in the world community "give" something such as the Olympics. All very doubtful, but worth the effort perhaps?
But, having seen just how dirty a place it is, I am concerned about the health of the athletes who have to reach pinnacles of body effort. I am also concerned about ordinary visitors, who are just not used to such levels of pollution. China promised to meet WHO standards : it looks as if it will not keep that promise. If so, let the world community remember the broken promise and keep other world events away from China.
Capping emissions? 9:21pm on 15 Jul 2008 To number 77
I cannot do as you ask, as so many of them were killed.
Capping emissions? 11:14pm on 10 Jul 2008 The question of capping emissions is a global one that affects all countries that produce pollution. China is in the top league of "offenders", maybe the worst now: but it is a question for many countries without singling out just one ( in China's case---please remember too that they are fairly "late-comers" to the pollution problem: others were there before them and began the issue).
On a point which is as relevant on this topic as on many of James' reports:
the reactions to the excellent reporting from the BBC in China ( as much as anyone can report when so much is hidden by an authoritarian regime which massacred its own young people in Tiananamen Square)------may I raise a general point on reactions to James' reports (on virtually every topic he raises). It is the arrogance and over-sensitivity of a lot of Chinese contributors to this Site. They seem to be uninterested in what the world thinks of their country. That is sad, especially from people in a country with such an appalling human rights record, such as in Tibet and elsewhere.
When will some of these commentators on James' reports stop accusing everyone else, taking no responsibility for the awful things in China (including pollution), and just turning away and saying "we do not care what the world thinks" ?
It is a worrying and recurring theme in many Chinese comments on James usual BBC impartial reporting.
China is an economic dwarf compared to the USA, UK, etc (Gross National Income in USA and UK are around $40,000; in China it is about $1,000).
If China is to progress, it needs the world-----and it SHOULD care what other countries think of China.
There are too many arrogant Chinese comments on James's reports about nearly everything-----they often scoff at him , say "he does not understand", mock his reporting.
Perhaps they should stop the arrogant posturing and think what those brave young people were trying to say 20 years ago in Beijing before they were killed by tanks and guns.........
It SHOULD matter to you what the world thinks of you......or you will continue to be not only economic dwarves, but also pariahs in terms of many issues.
Tibetan talks 10:08pm on 30 Jun 2008 Thank you James. You ask which approach might be taken by the brutal Beijing regime in talks with His Holiness' envoys. I have a feeling, YOU know the answer, as do most "Tibet-watchers" in the Free World.
The Chinese regime ------the one which massacred its own students in Tiananamen Square ------is as afraid of HH The Dalai Lama as they were afraid of those brave young Han Chinese students in that Square nearly 20 years ago.
Even Chairman Mao, upon hearing that HH The Dalai Lama had escaped in 1959 said "in that case we have lost".
And he was right. Since then, His Holiness has become a huge and respected and loved statesman on the world stage. And he is a Nobel Prize Laureate : surely that ranks him among the greatest figures of our era.
The Beijing Clique will now just await his death , eagerly; and then hope that the loss of such a hugely world-respected figure will eventually bring an end to the brave Tibetan resistance to tyranny, which has persisted for over 50 years.
It will not. His Holiness will hand on his work to future generations; the culture , language and way of life from the days when Tibet was an independent, happy country will be nurtured in India-----a true bastion of democracy. And one day, that culture will be taken back to a Tibet that has rid itself of one of the most brutal regimes in the world. Perhaps the next time many brave young Chinese students try to get rid of a barborous authoritarian regime......they will win against the tanks and bullets.
The Tibet/China talks taking place now will , in my opinion, result in nothing, except the same old rhetoric from Beijing ----that The Dalai Lama (a winner of the Nobel PEACE Prize) is a a violent agitator. Does the Beijing regime live on another planet from the rest of us ??
THE ANSWER IS : "YES, THEY DO" !!
Made In China 9:26pm on 27 Jun 2008 We should all do our own "little bit" to boycott the purchase products "made in China".
We should never forget that those products can be made and sold so cheaply because so many of them are simply the result of "forced labour" by political prisoners : people whose only crime has been to carry a photograph of His Holiness The Dalai Lama, or who have shouted "Freedom Of Speech" or sung a song of liberty.
The conditions in forced labour camps in China are well documented by various UN and International Human Rights Reports.
If only those brave young people who were massacred by an evil regime in Tiananmen Square had succeeded, perhaps China's products sold to the free world would not be tainted by the torture, suffering and agony of the Chinese Labour Camps where goods are manufactured by political prisoners : in Tibet and in other parts of China.
Chinese goods should be boycotted; and PRC should be treated as a pariah state.....a disgrace to the world community, in the same way as North Korea, Iran and other brutal and backward countries, whose regimes cling to power by force and evil.

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