(The original e-mail was in Dutch, but I have translated it into English here. I hope the politicians in other countries would read it.)
Dear Sir/Madam,
First of all, please read this e-mail till the end. You do not have to agree with anything mentioned in this e-mail or react on it. But because I wrote this e-mail seriously, please appreciate my work
and time,
and finish reading it at least. Thank you very much!
During the last one and a half month, China has been a hot topic in
Western countries, as it is the worst country in the world. Continuously there were only negative news in
Western media about China, it seems that there is nothing positive about China and
Chinese at all. However, when everybody attacks China, I wonder how many people really know about China, about what happened there and what’s going on there. Do those reporters, TV presenters or protestors know?
Let’s talk about human rights. I agree that comparing with Western world, the human rights in China are much worse. However, the
People’s Republic of China have been founded for less than 60 years and China have been open to the Western world for 30 years, you can say that the human rights development in China was
mainly for only 30 years. But human rights have been developed in Western countries for hundreds years. How can you compare the result from 30 years development with hundreds years development? We all know that human rights development takes time. It cannot be changed completely in a few years. It is not fair to use the European or American standard to measure China. Otherwise, you should also use the same human rights standard for all the developing countries and boycott all the developing countries. Therefore, the current human rights situation should not be a reason to boycott China.
On the other hand, how about the human rights progress in China? Is there no progress or very slow progress in China? To answer this question, please ask international human rights organizations which have done research about it, scholars who have been to China and have done detailed research about the human rights there or check the database from UN’s website. Then you will find the human rights in China have been improved enormously during the last 30 years. The situation now is much better than most other developing countries. Therefore, the human rights progress in China should also not be a reason to boycott China.
Moreover, how about the human rights in Tibet? Do Chinese oppress
Tibetans? Many people assume that and many people talk about it, but have you ever seen any proof? Have those people ever been to Tibet in the last 50 years or have done any research on it? Do you know for sure that the human rights in Tibet are really very bad? Please ask some scholars, Dutch tourists who have ever been to Tibet or human rights organizations, which have done related research about it. You can also read some books about
Tibetan history or google it. Then you will find Tibet was a part of China for hundreds years and pre-1950 Tibet was a theocracy with a feudal serfdom system, which the majority of the population in
old Tibet was serfs under a lifetime bond to work the lord's land—or the monastery’s land—without pay. Now there is equality in Tibet and
Tibetans even get many extra financial and educational incentives from the Chinese government. Chinese government also supports
Tibetan culture development. A lot of books are translated in
Tibetan and the government spent a lot of money to rebuild or redecorate
Tibetan temples. You can find
Tibetan translation on every single Chinese bill and on the background of the 50 yuan was Potala Palace. Doesn’t that mean respect? During the last 58 years, the human rights in Tibet have been improved dramatically.
Finally, how about what happened on March 14 2008?
This is an interesting question. Do you really know what happened on that day in Tibet? Are you sure? Some parts maybe, but probably you do not know the whole story. If you want to know the other parts you missed, please check this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSQnK5FcKas. If you want to know more about it, please check this website:
www.anti-cnn.com (An online forum made by a Chinese university graduate). I cannot say I know what happened on that day. But I can recognize that the policemen on those photos are not Chinese (many Asians can recognize it, just like you can distinguish a German policeman from an Italian policeman) and it was an ambulance on the photo instead of a military car. If you doubt about those photos, you can also check the original photos or other photos from Dutch newspapers. At the same time, there have been about 30 Chinese demonstrations with thousands or ten thousands people each time worldwide against
biased Western media since March 2008. How many of them have you heard of? Do you hear that there have been demonstrations in front of BBC and
CNN buildings in many different cities? You can find enough of them on YouTube. Meanwhile, the Dutch newspaper said that all the foreign students had to leave China during the Olympic Games, is it true? If you call the Ministry of Education, you will know immediately that it is fake news. Besides,
CNN’s presenter
Jack Cafferty said on TV about Chinese that “I
think they’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years”. Do you agree?
The Western media went too far, but you cannot. Because you are elected by citizens and you present citizens. You have responsibilities. People are fooled and used by media, but you cannot use them. You cannot be used by others either. You do not need to be
lieve what I said. You can check information yourself. I only want to say that make sure you know what happened and what you are doing, and please only give judgments on something you know for sure. If you do not know it for sure, please do not draw any conclusion or follow others. Ask some experts, do some research on it or simply say “I don’t know” or “no comment”. Look at facts, not assumptions. If after your research, you still think China is really doing very bad and should be boycotted, it is fine. I do not have any problem with it. But please do your research first. Do not judge for 16 million people based on your assumption. You can make a mistake as a person, but please try not to make any mistake for 16 millions people.
Thank you for finishing reading my e-mail. It is most appreciated.
Kind regards,
Betty Lin
