As I watched the Queen, princes and princesses raise their glasses to toast the leader of one of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes on TV last week, I was horrified. He was accorded the honour of riding with the Queen in a state coach to Buckingham Palace. The home secretary and the Duchess of Cambridge even wore red to fawn over their Chinese guests. (“Kowtowing to China’s despots is morally wrong and makes no economic sense”, Comment.)
Meanwhile, British police arrested a survivor of the Tiananmen crackdown and raided his home after he stood in front of President Xi Jinping’s motorcade. Organised pro-Beijing crowds were allowed to drown out China critics.At home, Xi has overseen the most severe crackdown on civil society since the Tiananmen Square massacre 26 years ago. Hundreds of lawyers, liberal scholars, journalists and activists have been jailed or detained since he took power. David Cameron remained silent publicly on human rights.
And what about Britain’s former colony, Hong Kong? Britain was a party to the joint declaration and yet when the Chinese government turned its back on its promise for genuine universal suffrage and insisted that candidates for the leadership of the territory must first be vetted by Beijing, the British government hardly said a thing. The message from Britain was loud and clear: you carry on with the torture, forced abortions, executions, jailing of government critics and other rights abuses – we simply don’t give a damn. Who cares about values when we are talking money? Yes, Britain, one of the oldest democracies in the world, can really be bought so cheaply.
And for the human rights campaigners in China who brave their lives to fight against a repressive regime, this is a devastating blow to their morale. To thousands of prisoners of conscience, what David Cameron and the royal family have done amounts to a slap in the face. Not only that their government cares little about them, but the free world that is supposed to be champion of rights and freedoms has abandoned them. Yet these brave people are only a minority in China. Few living under a repressive regime can afford to pay the heavy price for speaking out against injustice, so most people choose to stay silent. But the politicians and royalty in the west have nothing to lose, yet they have chosen to be complicit in the endorsement of abuses and lies.
As someone who was educated for over a decade in Britain, I often tell my Chinese friends how much I respect the democratic values and the equality of people in Britain. Yet this blatant display of sycophancy towards a dictatorial regime has instantly reduced Britain’s status and standing in the eyes of those who once admired it. What can I say to my friends now? This might become a moment that will return to haunt Britain one day, when the pictures of royalty and top politicians posing with the leader of an authoritarian regime will prove to be an embarrassment and a liability rather than a source of pride. What will they say to their children then?
Verna Hu
Hong Kong
Hurrah for Observer voices
In “The Readers’ Editor on...”, Stephen Pritchard wrote such a fair, indeed one could say generous, piece about readers’ reactions to the Observer’s comment in response to Corbyn’s election. In this, he refers to protests about “the sneering treatment meted out to the Corbyn campaign”, from readers feeling you have been unfairly harsh on the new Labour leader.
In balance, can I say that I have found your coverage intelligent and thoughtful, most especially your leader articles and pieces from Andrew Rawnsley and Nick Cohen? There are many of us who are grateful for your sane and considered commentary on a development we find alarming.
Jo Adams
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Support for cleft diagnoses
I was moved to read the article by William Skidelsky (“The day we learned our son had a cleft lip”, New Review) about his son, Hugo, who was born with a cleft lip and palate. In the Cleft Lip and Palate Association 2014 survey, we found that 25% of parents with an antenatal diagnosis of cleft were offered a termination, and 14% had considered ending their pregnancy before receiving further information. Clapa worked to ensure that parents are referred to a specialist team and given information about Clapa as soon as they are diagnosed.
However, we still hear from parents who have been misinformed, with some reporting that they felt pressured into making a quick decision. The reality is that, with the right support and treatment, a child born with a cleft should enjoy the same quality of life as anyone.
Rosanna Preston
Chief executive
Cleft Lip and Palate Association
London EC1
Black theatre has so far to go
Vanessa Thorpe is not quite correct in saying that Moon on a Rainbow Shawl was “produced” at the Royal Court Theatre in 1958 after it won the Observer play competition (“100 years of black theatre, but actors still struggle to take centre stage”, News). The accurate story makes a more telling contribution to the theme of her article regarding the necessity of real power in decision-making in theatre being placed in the hands of black and ethnically diverse artists if the still prevalent institutional racism is to be eliminated.
In 1958, the winning play in the competition was guaranteed to have a West End production by the leading commercial producing company of the day, HM Tennant, which was dismayed to discover that the decision of the judges committed it to staging a black play in the West End. It organised a brief regional tour and hired the Royal Court Theatre for a few weeks.
The author, Errol John, was so appalled by the shoddy treatment of the play that he vowed he’d never allow it to be staged again in British theatre until he was trusted to direct it himself – 27 years later he directed it successfully at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.
Philip Hedley
Director emeritus, Theatre Royal Stratford East
London WC1
A serving of sour grapes, sir?
While I applaud the campaign to discourage fake reviews (“TripAdvisor urged to end fake restaurant reviews”, News), I suspect that this is a minor part of the problem. I have seen many adverse reviews, from people who genuinely visited the restaurants in question,which have comments such as “worst meal ever” and “extremely rude staff”, that bear no relation to reality. Many are clearly from arrogant customers, peeved at waiters who didn’t treat them with enough deference.
Bill Darlington
Glasgow
