Madam - IT IS difficult to respond because of limited space in letters to the editor to the inaccuracies and falsities in Clifford Coonan's article from Taipei, (March 22nd/23rd), "Beijing faces mounting pressure over Tibet crackdown."
Let me point out the most glaring: Mr Coonan writes: "The biggest independence riots in 20 years shook Tibet last week and left the Chinese government dealing with the worst damage to its international reputation since the 1989 massacre of pro-democracy activists in Beijing's Tiananmen Square."
Totally false - nobody was killed in Tiananmen Square on the night in question - even most of the US media and western European press no longer make this accusation, though they will not admit to their original false reporting on this event. They now refer to the night of June 3rd/4th, 1989 as the "conclusion of the student uprising in Beijing".
In reading Mr Coonan's article the reader is left with the false impression that the Chinese government is killing Tibetans just for the sake of killing protesters. False. The Chinese government - like any government in the world - is reacting to forces that are bent on destruction and violence. Is the Chinese government perfect in its handling of the Tibetan people's wishes? - certainly not.
But to suggest that the Chinese government is overreacting to the protesters in the streets of several cities throughout China is false.
As for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's comment that the United States government must condemn the actions of the Chinese government in its handling of this matter, or the United States could no longer be viewed as a beacon of civil rights and democracy around the world. What double speak - the United States lost that opportunity five years ago when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. - Yours, etc,
VINCENT J LAVERY, Findlater Street, Glasthule, Co Dublin.