ARTICLE FOR THE TIMES BY THE RT HON DOUGLAS HURD CBE MP
Thirty five years ago, when I was a young diplomat in Peking, we watched the slow collapse of the American effort to isolate Communist China from the Western world. I did not suppose that we should see that policy solemnly advocated all over again in my working lifetime. It does not fit either Western or British interests, or the interests of the Chinese people themselves. It is manifestly absurd.
We cannot forget the events in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. They stay vivid for all who care about the Chinese people. The European Community, the West as a whole, and Japan were right to take the measures they did in reaction to those events. Francis Maude was right to remind the Chinese on his recent visit that the steps which they have taken towards respecting human rights are limited, and that further steps are needed if we are to get back on to the path of steadily improved dealings between China and the West which seemed hopeful before 1989.
I feel certain myself that China will change, not perhaps without further setbacks or in a smooth forward line. But over the years the movement towards economic liberalisation will be followed by greater respect for political freedom. It must be right to encourage that change by contacts with China. The pace at which we build up these contacts must depend on what happens in China itself. There should be no pell mell rush, and no attempt to obliterate the memories of Tiananmen Square. But President Bush is right not to imitate the attempt of John Foster Dulles to isolate China; and we are right to
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