Madam, - It seems unlikely that the Chinese government will ever become aware of the final paragraph of Neil Steedman's letter of April 22nd: "The real question is: How should Ireland develop its relationship with the People's Republic of China, while striving to end human rights abuses in China and find a solution to the colonial occupation of Tibet that would be acceptable to the Tibetan people?"
But if it should notice Mr Steedman I can only hope that it will see the funny side of his questionings. The real issues are, of course, somewhat different and have nothing to do with human rights abuses or Tibetan independence - first claimed at the time of the Chinese Revolution in 1911/12 but not recognised in international law - or even the Olympics.
The questions that matter are how a country of such enormous size and diversity; a country easily fragmented into warring states; a country with few if any democratic traditions and with the largest population in the world to be fed and educated, can be held together by its rules?
These are the real questions and although what Ireland and the UK think about such things probably does not matter very greatly, it would probably be helpful in a small way if we attempted to understand the true nature of other people's difficulties. - Yours, etc,
MICHAEL TATHAM,
Harrold,
Bedford,
England.