54, Waxwell Lane, Pinner,
Middx.
HA5 3EN.
28th. July 1990.
Mr. R. Hughes, House of Commons, Westminster.
re. China and Hong Kong.
Dear Mr. Hughes,
We were all appalled by the events in Tiananmen Square a year ago, and by the reports of summary executions which followed. Perhaps you, like me, believe that many of those demonstrators who did not die are still political prisoners. The Chinese government continues to have a despicable record on Human Rights and needs to be encouraged by every possible means to improve this.
Whilst I am aware that dialogue with the Chinese is an important means of persuasion, I was left feeling distinctly uncomfortable by the warmth which Mr. Maude showed to the Chinese government. I felt that his public encouragement to the West to develop closer ties with the China, announced as it
on Chinese soil, will have made those who have fought so hard for democracy feel abandoned by Britain.
The
What, however, finally prompted me to write to you was news of the fines imposed by the British Government's administration in Hong Kong on peaceful demonstrators using loud hailers. This seems to me an utterly shameful act. residents of Hong Kong are entitled to feel anxious at the prospect of being ruled by Peking, and the British government should show sympathy with them and their attempts peacefully to express their concerns.
We are not only in my opinion getting uncomfortably friendly with China's rulers, but we are in danger of being seen in Hong Kong to begin to adopt some of their attitudes towards free speech. This can only be bad for the British, for Hong Kong and for international respect for Human Rights.
Yours sincerely,
Christopher
Dr. C. G. Timmis.
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