February 7: Trade links moves should be tempered with reminders on human rights
- Published in the Courier : 07.02.12
- Published online : 07.02.12 @ 09.10am
Sir, - I welcome the visit to Dundee of the Dalai Lama and am pleasantly surprised by the strength of goodwill aimed in his direction, as reported in The Courier. Also reported has been the call from Stewart Hosie for better trade links with the People's Republic of China, and this also is a positive move.
However, I think we should retain a sense of perspective and reality in our approach to both these situations.
The Dalai Lama is a refugee from his own country of Tibet, since its invasion by the Chinese in 1959. Since then the Tibetan people have been brutally oppressed and, as in China itself, any political opinion not in keeping with Government policy is not tolerated.
Any formal approach to China for trade or cultural purposes should be accompanied by reminders that their attitude towards the human rights of their own people is unacceptable. The UK has a poor record of soft peddling on human rights with previous dictatorships such as those of Saddam Hussein and Col Gaddafi. Hopefully we have learned from this.
History has shown that the position of brutal dictatorship around the world is eventually untenable. In recent months the military authorities in Burma have relaxed their grip on society and released many prisoners of conscience.
There is much still to be done, but this is a welcome move and China should follow suit.
Could the Chinese Government please stop its brutal treatment of the people of Tibet and allow the Dalai Lama the unconditional return to his spiritual homeland?
Ronald Oliver.
4 Lethnot Street,
Broughty Ferry.
Plug these gaps — or watch it sink!
Sir, - I take issue with the evergreen Robert McNeil's view in his column on Thursday February 2, How did we get into such a state?
The thrust of this comment column of his is that Scotland is afraid to go it alone and that the anti-independence lobby and opinion are simply weak people.
But there are issues not yet made clear by the Salmond-Sturgeon big fish and two of these are the armed forces and the EU.
The Scottish soldier has become a key part of the UK armed forces — where will he/she now fit in to Scotland's defence under independence?
The European Community membership belongs to the UK state and there is no legal procedure under the present EC to take in, automatically, the new state created from part of an existing state as an independent Scotland would become.
Without full actuality (not just vague hopes) on these two a new Scotland would be not brave but a defenceless and economically depleted myth.
Without sealing these gaping legal holes the craft sailing towards independence will sink. Such a craft would be a Titanic folly.
To mention such is not timorous but maturely sensible. So fill in the above blanks, SNP, and do it soon!
Bill Dewar.
16 Dalrymple Street,
Dundee.
They need to be protected
Sir, - If the conclusions of consultancy firm Mouchel that the Links in St Andrews and communities round the coast of Fife are likely to be inundated by rising sea levels are correct I am glad to see Fife Council are prepared to take action.
The costs will be huge and greater than any local authority can afford but the money needs to be found and the funding should come from the centre.
The focus on climate change and carbon being addressed by more and more useless wind turbines needs to be changed. We need to adapt and if that means spending millions to protect our seaside communities so be it.
Government could redirect the money taken from our electricity bills and dished out as a subsidy to windfarm developers to fund the flood defences.
The subsidy to fund wind generation over the next 20 years is in the order of £35 billion.
You can get a lot of sea defences for that and, of course, lots of jobs.
Graham Lang.
Coaltown of Callange,
Ceres.
It just doesn't add up
Sir, - Noting Councillor Bidwell's recent comments regarding repair work on Broughty Ferry's Fort Street bridge, I too would share his disappointment that acts of vandalism have necessitated this work.
However, I would ask the councillor why then it appears to be Labour's current policy to reduce the number of police officers on our streets — a policy seemingly articulated by a Labour candidate in The Courier recently.
Kevin Cordell.
2 Nevis Place,
Broughty Ferry.
Innocent until proven guilty?
Sir, - Surely it is an outrage that John Terry has been stripped of the England captaincy. 'Innocent until proven guilty' used to be the motto in our land.
Compare Terry's treatment to that of Labour MP Dianne Abbott who has got off scot free despite being guilty of twittering that all whites like to divide and rule.
George Aimer.
82 Kinghorne Road,
Dundee.
Just one visit
Sir, - I totally agree with Robert T. Smith when he writes that tourism is often self-destroying.
He must comfort himself, however, with the certain knowledge that none but the blind will now visit the Scottish countryside twice since, with every passing day, it becomes an industrial site through windmills and pylons.
These are not times to invest in a B&B.
W. A. McIntosh.
Nethermuir,
Dunning,
Perthshire.
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