Too willing to overlook abuse

last updated 8 January 2015

Australia

Remember when Australians stood up for dissidents? asked Sushi Das in the Melbourne Age. In 1989, for example, when the Chinese government massacred students in Tiananmen Square, our government immediately gave asylum to all 20,000 Chinese who were studying here. It was the right thing to do. Now, though, when a dissident like consular official Chen Yonglin—who defected publicly last month—pleads for asylum, it is “deemed inappropriate” to let him in. Obviously, something has changed in the past 16 years. It certainly isn’t China’s human-rights record—China still leads the world in executions and torture, still oppresses minority religions, still censors the press. What has changed is the economy. The Chinese market has become far too important to offend. Today’s Australia is eager to “be friends” with China so it can take advantage of the huge trade opportunities there. But it’s an uncomfortable kind of friendship. “It’s like being friends with a neighbor you know beats his wife every night.” Must we ignore China’s bad behavior in order to safeguard our jobs? “Human rights—what a dilemma they pose when you’re trying to do business with a tyrant.”