The wrong decision
Prime Minister John Key says he will not meet the Dalai Lama when he visits New Zealand next month.
The decision goes against Mr Key’s previous statements that he would meet the Tibetan spiritual leader if his diary permitted, but he denied it had been made after pressure from China.
“The reason simply is I’ve decided that I wouldn’t get a lot out of that particular meeting. I don’t see every religious leader that comes to town. I’ve seen him in the past, I may see him in the future.” …
He said the issue was not raised by Chinese president Hu Jintao during the Apec summit in Singapore at the weekend, and no other Chinese government agency had asked for a meeting not to proceed.
This is an appalling decision.It is bad enough China oppresses its own citizens, but even worse when the NZ Government effectively practises self-censorship so not to offend them.
Even worse is that this encourages China to carry on trying to dictate whom other countries can or can not meet. Just as the response to the Danish cartoons threats should have been every paper in the world publishing them, the response to China’s threats (and the are well known even if not repeated directly to the PM) over the Dalai Llama should be a policy to make sure one always meets with him.
One has to make the attempt to censor, counter-productive. That is the only way that they may learn and stop one day.
Again, this is an appalling decision.