There are those who argue that we should protest loudly about human rights during this week’s State Visit. The assumption appears to be that the Chines would be in a mood to submit humbly to such strictures. That is nonsense. If a British Leader were to try to lecture them, he would receive an earful about the Opium Wars, Britain’s record as a colonial oppressor and so on. The Chinese would remember that officially, they are Marxists and Maoists.
So what should we do about human rights in China? There is only one sensible answer: as little as possible. We have to hope that the country continues to progress – and remains one of the engine-rooms of the world economy. The Marxists were not always wrong. There is a connection between economic development and social and political progress.