Letters and Blogs

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-06 08:36

Spin-doctor politics and muckraker's slandering

The Chinese government has every right to say that it is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposes the EU statement denouncing the execution of two Tibetans convicted of murder in last year's Lhasa riot.

In short, we all know that China does not want to let foreign influence meddle in its internal affairs. It won't hurt, however, to have a closer look at the so-called EU statement which runs as follows: "The EU respects China's right to bring those responsible for the violence to justice but reaffirms its longstanding opposition to the use of the death penalty under all circumstances. The EU reiterates its concerns about the conditions under which the trials were conducted, especially with regard to whether due process and other safeguards for a fair trial were respected," the EU presidency added.

Letters and Blogs

It seems that the EU really knows how to play spin-doctor politics. The statement has a diplomatic start: "The EU respects China's right to bring those responsible for the violence to justice". Casual spectators in the West will find it natural to drop capital punishment in the verdict in view of the slim chance of an iniquitous wrong. The Western mind may still be fixated with a sloppy Chinese judicial system and they find it necessary to remind us "whether due process and other safeguards for a fair trial were respected." Some worse prejudices come to my mind: The UK's Guardian newspaper did use the term "genocide" in their coverage of the riot in Xinjiang in July in complete disregard of the facts.

We can always rebut the nonsense. Yet, Winston Churchill once said: "When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite." I wonder if the Chinese government has been employing any Western lobbyists and/or public relations companies to convey positive messages abroad. Just as Obama has to live with the Fox "show-biz" journalism these days, China might need to find a proper way to deal with the neo-con exaggeration and muckraker's slandering. I hope China Daily can cover the progress of China in this area.

Ken Hui

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(China Daily 11/06/2009 page8)