Madam, – Michael Tatham (May 1st) looks at the bigger picture, suggesting that Ireland should not pay attention to wrongs in China’s provinces because China has very pressing problems. He says: “The questions that matter are how a country of such enormous size and diversity, a country easily fragmented into warring states. . .can be held together. . .”
Chinese central government has been controlling neighbouring peoples for millennia. Control has been spectacularly sustained, but does that make it admirable or supportable? If a province such as “The Tibet Autonomous Region” has been granted autonomy, is it justified for central government to delay, undermine and finally vitiate that autonomy?
I am stunned to read that “the real issues” have “nothing to do with human rights abuses”. If human rights are ignored, what issues remain? – Yours, etc,
ANDREW ROBINSON,
Marlborough Road,
Dublin 4.