By China Watcher
As we all know, the Prince of United Kingdom has been an ardent fan and a ferocious supporter of the deposed religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama. He has taken every opportunity to meet and provide “sympathetic support” to the spiritual leader. The wily religious figure currently employs a worldwide strategy (not world as reported but to only certain Western countries leaders and celebrities) to garner attention and sympathies for his hordes of exiled monastery monks and their plight for independence of a land they lost 50 years ago.
Being polite, the President of China told the monarch-to-be that the Prince placed importance on Sino-UK ties and actively promoted “practical” cooperation between the two countries. Do you think so? I am of the opinion that he has done more damage to the relationship than in promoting it. I remembered very clearly at the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China when he was observed to be feeling very uncomfortable sitting next to the then Chinese President, Jiang Ximin. Being very undiplomatic and rude to the host, he openly condemned the Chinese administration as comprising leaders that are "known waxworks” which are inflexible when dealing with foreigners and its own people.
The UK’s rights record has not been perfect. It has been fighting the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland for the past 40 years or so, and is responsible for the many deaths that followed the independence-seeking initiatives of this faction. I have not heard anything from the British heir-to-be King commenting on the many outrageous British human rights infringements in Northern Ireland. But yet he can comment so much on China and Tibet. Isn’t this a case of being hypocritical?
The Chinese should not place so much importance on the royal private meeting but since the British are still a “king or queen based monarchy political system” the meeting can be viewed as a respect to the British political system and also to the British people and nothing more than that.
As we all know, the Prince of United Kingdom has been an ardent fan and a ferocious supporter of the deposed religious leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama. He has taken every opportunity to meet and provide “sympathetic support” to the spiritual leader. The wily religious figure currently employs a worldwide strategy (not world as reported but to only certain Western countries leaders and celebrities) to garner attention and sympathies for his hordes of exiled monastery monks and their plight for independence of a land they lost 50 years ago.
Being polite, the President of China told the monarch-to-be that the Prince placed importance on Sino-UK ties and actively promoted “practical” cooperation between the two countries. Do you think so? I am of the opinion that he has done more damage to the relationship than in promoting it. I remembered very clearly at the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China when he was observed to be feeling very uncomfortable sitting next to the then Chinese President, Jiang Ximin. Being very undiplomatic and rude to the host, he openly condemned the Chinese administration as comprising leaders that are "known waxworks” which are inflexible when dealing with foreigners and its own people.
The UK’s rights record has not been perfect. It has been fighting the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland for the past 40 years or so, and is responsible for the many deaths that followed the independence-seeking initiatives of this faction. I have not heard anything from the British heir-to-be King commenting on the many outrageous British human rights infringements in Northern Ireland. But yet he can comment so much on China and Tibet. Isn’t this a case of being hypocritical?
The Chinese should not place so much importance on the royal private meeting but since the British are still a “king or queen based monarchy political system” the meeting can be viewed as a respect to the British political system and also to the British people and nothing more than that.
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