Madam, - Kevin Lynch is right (April 16th). China has come a long way in a very short time. It also leads the world in population control. The Chinese minister of the State Commission of Population and Family Planning has claimed that the one-child-per couple policy has resulted in 400 million fewer births than would otherwise have been the case. That's equivalent to about 80 per cent of the current total of men, women and children in all member-states of the EU.
Not too far in the future, the rest of the world will salute China for this achievement. In a world where, at the current rate of expansion, the human population grows by a billion people every 11 years, and where it is set to double in the next 60 years, this problem makes global warming and climate change seem almost trivial by comparison. Of course, the doubling will not take place. Either population growth will be curtailed in other countries as it has been in China, or massive famines, on a scale never seen before, will occur.
I hope the Green Party is aware of this issue. - Yours, etc,
SEAMUS McKENNA, Farrenboley Park, Dublin 14.
Madam, - Cllr Mark Dearey (April 17th) of the Green Party has misinterpreted my criticisms of John Gormley. I did not claim that "those. . .who are concerned about human rights in Tibet" are "armchair pundits", but that the Tibetan cause (which I believe to be just) is a convenient one for those who wish to feign radicalism without suffering any consequences. This is no reflection on those whose commitment to that cause is wholehearted and sincere.
My mention of Palestine was not a piece of "whataboutery"; indeed, we in the Palestine solidarity movement are all too accustomed to hearing: "What about Tibet? What about Sudan?" Neither was I absurdly claiming that the Tibetan cause is "somehow morally inferior".
However, I believe that Mr Gormley's silence on Palestine while in Government compares unfavourably with his relative volubility on the subject while in opposition. For this reason I believe his embracing of the Tibetan cause is a piece of crass opportunism and hypocrisy, designed to ingratiate himself with those who have watched with dismay as the Green Party became a prop for the disgusting policies of a right-wing government. - Yours, etc,
RAYMOND DEANE, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I would like to express my support for the views John Gormley expressed on Tibet. International condemnation is the only thing that will stop China from committing these atrocities. Ireland may be neutral, but not when it comes to human rights abuses. - Yours, etc,
ADRIANNE WYSE, Kilteragh Road, Dublin 18.