You cannot expect to foster changes in their government if you shun them from your own table.
Tredd Barton, USA

Just two of the comments Talking Point received. Read more below.

Background ¦ Your reaction

The Background:

The UK is pulling out all the stops for the first visit to its shores of a Chinese leader.

President Jiang Zemin will be greeted by hundreds of red flags on the Mall, and then he will be wined and dined by the Queen at a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair hopes the visit will boost growing trade links between China and Britain, but human rights protestors are outraged by the visit.

Alison Reynolds of Free Tibet said: "We feel it is totally inappropriate for the president to be entertained by the Queen and Tony Blair while the human rights issue is brushed under the carpet."

However former Prime Minister, Sir Edward Heath, insisted that the visit must be used to reverse the "appalling damage" caused by the mistaken bombing by Nato of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.

What do you think - should we be rolling out the red carpet for the Chinese president, when China's human rights record remains such a contentious issue?

Background ¦ Your reaction

Your Reaction:

Read the first comments we received

If we want to see any change in China, Jiang Zemin is the man to talk to. And that also means extending the same courtesy to the leader of one fifth of the world population as one would to any other head of state.
Ben, Netherlands

Britain as a country has an very good opportunity to become the darling of the world democratic community by being vocal in their support to the human rights violations, and rape of Tibet, and ask one of the last standing communist governments to go in favour of a democratic set-up.
The Chinese have long ridiculed the world opinion, and on the other hand Britain has lost much of its say in the world affairs, it is now a very right moment to set both things straight. Tibet is being molested, and the human rights are non-existent in China, its blatant disregard for world opinion is very clear from its actions against the Taiwanese people.
Till when will China use its cheap labour as the bargaining point, and the world will listen to it. Britain take note, it's one time you can actually become a major force to be reckoned with, and the world will take note, and applaud you.
Rohit, USA

British double standards??? Why don't you arrest Jiang for all the human rights abuses in China. They arrested Pinochet so why not take this guy. I would really like to see the Brits put their money where their mouth is.
Fernando Mosquera, Singapore

So long as we refuse to stand up to the last great totalitarian regime in the world, favouring them with ever-growing amounts of our trade instead, the world will remain a dangerous and unpleasant place.
Colin Rose, UK

I was born and grew up in China, I live in HK with my British husband. I know how much I appreciate the improvement we've made recently in China, how much our people and our leaders are learning to build a better country. Please be friendly and just give us some time. You'll see a democratic and prosperous China in a not long future. Hostility is not going to help us.
Qin Zhang, China

I was brought up with the saying "Do unto others as they would do unto you". Of course President Jiang should be treated correctly. It would be nice to think that our Head of State learns a few words in Mandarin to at least greet the President in his own language. If it was a President from the West I feel sure that this debate would not occur!
John C, UK/Germany

Of course he can come as a guest, but should also be aware of how demonstrators (and many others) feel about Tibet and human rights. He was publicly and visibly furious when demonstrators faced him in Switzerland. Federal President Ruth Dreifuss then replied to him -- straight to his face -- that Swiss citizens have a right to express their concerns, concerns shared by many. Tony Blair should tell him the same.
Peter Holt, Switzerland

Yes. Definitely roll out the red carpet for this fellow. After all is said and done- he is a guest. And, as a guest he should be treated with respect. We cannot expect to have any dialogue with China in the future if we act ignorantly toward that country. But, we had best be more prepared to keep in mind that they are damned clever and will steal your secrets if you let them.
Dave Adams, USA

There should be no recognition of China. Much like China does not recognise Tibet. The only good dialogue with China is no dialogue. I hope your Prime Minister has the courage to stand up for something all others (USA included) have given up on in favour of trade profits. I find it odd that Jiang Zemin represents so much yet sees so little.
Tamas Lobo, USA

We Britons often forget that it is our country which has committed more abuses of human rights than any other during the past few centuries. Our record in Africa and India leaves us in no position to lecture the Chinese. Even in recent times, Britain denied Hong Kong citizens their democratic rights, while draconian laws now used to suppress freedom of speech in ex-colonies such as Malaysia stem from British rule.
The lives of most Chinese have improved greatly in recent years as the Chinese government pursues economic liberalisation. Political freedom will surely follow. In the meantime, we citizens of an ex-world power with an often shameful past are in no position to dictate to an emerging one. Jiang should be greeted with the dignity and respect we would expect for our leaders.
Mark, UK/Japan

As an American, I don't think it's in my right to decide what the British public should ultimately react to Jiang. However, I do believe it would be against the spirit of modern democracy to kowtow to Mr Jiang's wishes that protests against his regime cease. The Chinese government may believe that it has the power and the ability to control public sentiment, but a truly democratic society tolerates dissent. If Jiang were to withdraw his overtures towards the UK, in the face of protests, he would ever more firmly establish himself as an enemy of democracy.
Jeremy Erwin, USA

I hope Jack Straw will be just as fearless as he was in the Pinochet case and arrest the Butcher of Tiananmen Square and Tibet and extradite him to Taiwan for trial for crimes against humanity. And pigs will fly.
CD Tattersall, UK

Moral absolutes and diplomacy make poor companions. An isolated China would be a greater danger, both to its own citizens and to the region.
Morgan Edwards, UK

Can someone please explain to me how pandering to a totalitarian dictator from a country where human rights are ignored and abused is compatible with the ethical foreign policy our current government claims to be pursing? Where as I am all for making visitors welcome in our country is it not taking it a little far to impose the same restrictions on free speech and demonstrations (such as those out side Buckingham Palace) on the people in this country as one could expect to encounter in China? I am sure there were other ways that the ethical stance on foreign policy could have been shown up for mere rhetoric than to display it very publicly on the world media stage. The people of Tibet will no doubt take great heart from the fact that the UK pursues an ethical foreign policy - unless you are a huge country on the verge of a commercial capitalist boom!
SA Oxley, UK

Native Tibetan culture forms an invaluable and highly relevant manifestation of Man's cultural and spiritual heritage and should be nurtured as such. Political connivance by the Chinese in trying to erase the Tibetan identity and forcing any other government to quash demonstrations against such a policy must not be allowed.
Charles Southgate, Spain

Jiang should be jailed like Pinochet. He has overseen a government that has done the exact same things to their political opponents that Pinochet is being held for. Does Britain hold double standards. Are the lives and freedoms of Chileans worth more to Brits than the lives and freedoms of Chinese people?
Sun Yixian, Republic of Hong Kong

Jiang is representing the Chinese people, not himself. Those whom are against Jiang's visit, is actually againts more than 1 billion Chinese people. Shutting your door to others indicates you are coward. Fortunately, the current British government is doing correctly.
Jeffrey Wang, Shanghai, China

We should not "roll out the red carpet" for Jiang Zemin. Why should we? Look at that his human rights record. We (NATO) bomb Yugoslavia for committing genocide, what differentiates Zemin from Milosevic, Hitler, or Stalin?
Dave Inglesby, United States

It's sad to hear all these people use the words "Human Rights" and "democracy" without really trying to understand and relate to the concepts of culture, development and survival. How many of these do-gooders have lived in a third-world country where the most important human-right is the right to fill a hungry stomach. The bible states "let he who does not bare the original sin cast the first stone", we can easily forget our own wrongs, like the suppression and humiliation of the Chinese people through forcing opium down their throats last century.
John C, UK

I feel funny that so many non-Chinese talking about how Chinese are tortured and how life is miserable in China. I agree the life in China is not as good as in UK, but not like what you thought. Just spend some time to read comments made by Chinese on the internet. You will understand China much better.
Qing Zhang,

To roll out the red carpet would be celebrating those ideals that he stands for. Do you want to do that? Perhaps shunning from the table is what needs to happen until China gets off of its power trip. Who am I to talk right, I'm from America. Ha! That's a good one. But I'll say this, he won't get a red carpet here.
Kris Thompson, USA

How can we let a man who is the leader of a country and by implication is responsible for it's action that has imprisoned close on 10 million people in work camps across China and Tibet. A country that has invaded a non-violent independent country of Tibet and in the pass 50 years murdered 1.2million of its population in the name of The P.R.C. The list is endless.
John Jackson, UK

Please say what you see first folks. What is human rights?????? For not let the kindly westerners to bring opium to china is violate the human rights of yours
Ken Luu Us, US

I was totally confused! Are those who are talking human rights shamefully the same British people as those who invaded China, killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Chinese people, took away tons of valueless things from our forbidden city and burned out our Yuan Min Yuan, 100 years ago? TELL ME, please! Was there anyone at that time who concerned any human rights, even a little? THERE WAS NOT! When you are facing that history and when you are enjoying appreciating those Chinese collections in British Museum, which are stolen or robbed from China, don't you British people feel any blame from your conscientiousness? If you simply take for granted that it has passed, I can tell you ARE WRONG! Chinese people are not forgetting it, not now, not in any future! So before all those can be forgiven by China, British people. By the way, whether you roll out the red carpet or not is not important AT ALL for CHINA! We are getting stronger and stronger, with the speed far beyond what you can imagine. If you don't, there are lots of others will do and take it as a great honor!
Zhang, P.R.China

I think now I understand what's 'wash brain' power. Look at USA and UK, poor people lost their independent judgement because they just believe bias media-orientation for China. It's poor.
William Zhao, USA

Its a good sign of East-West relationship. At least before the end of the millennium it was done. Let 1000 flowers of state-friendships blossom. There is need for balance of power and this is good start for the next millennium.
Musthafa Abulkalam, Sweden

Lets not forget the role of the English police in suppressing peoples freedom to demonstrate peacefully. No banners, no dissent, no free speech. No police state? Really?
IanRussell, UK

It is very much the case that our 'ethical foreign policy' of 'New Labour' has yet again been revealed as a complete sham and as a cheap tool for attracting voters who believed in the sincerity of the politicians who used it as a means of picking up votes during the last election. It is utterly shameful to see our Police using methods that would seem more at home in China, however, tearing down and confiscating British flags and banners and dragging off peaceful protestors. Do we ask ourselves who authorised this? It remains to be seen whether the electorate here will demonstrate in their voting patterns the general feelings of disgust expressed here, however, or whether they will fall hook, line and sinker, yet again, for utterly hypocritical politicians who want nothing other than power.
Steven Eke, England

The Chinese military régime is currently overseeing the destruction of one of the great religious cultures of the world - that of Tibetan Buddhism. It is shocking to me, with all this present government's talk of an "ethical foreign policy" that Jiang Zemin should be accorded red-carpet treatment. Robin Cook this morning blithely & blandly talked about the visit as simply a "return of protocol", following the Queen's visit to China: and he spoke smoothly about "raising questions" with the Chinese: but there is no sign of human rights, or the particularly urgent question of Tibet on the agenda.
Stephen Romer, France

After fighting hard for the right to peacefully protest, the British people are allowing themselves to be stifled in the interest of bettering BUISNESS relations with a country with an appalling human rights record? I am shocked... since when is the opinion of British citizens measured by how much money it can help generate? Stand up and SPEAK if you wish to, and don't let the government make a precedent out of this... don't let your right to be HEARD die just to curry favour with China!
Diane Cavallero, Belgium

Why not. Red carpet typically is for the welcome ceremony of influential personnel of other nation or country. Whether you agree with the policy or not, It is irrelevant.
Cryscal, US

I have often heard of the arguments of the "appalling human rights record" of the Chinese government, being the disqualification for receiving the head of the state of China, President Jiang. Odd then, a man, a leader should be made responsible for the errors of his predecessors in politics. Considering how even the British government supressed democracy in HK for many decades, ie. true history of HK never allowed to be expressed in HK schools, and many protesters arrested in the 1950's. Then should Mr. Blair and perhaps all the people of Britain to be made unwelcome to any part of China or HK? The words "we will never forget" procedures "we are not your friends", and should be applied equally to us before they are applied to "them".
Leonardo Fini, USA

I have just watched the evening news and was utterly appalled to see the behaviour of the police in stifling the apparently legitimate protests being staged. Until now I have lived 39 years in the apparently mistaken belief that I was the free citizen of a democracy, where free speech was valued. Clearly now I shall have to revise that view, and take rather more notice of the apparently innocuous word "subject" which appears on my passport. The next time Her Majesty requires a Chief Constable to spare her blushes and those of her government, I suggest she is reminded that the police are servants of the state, and their wages are paid by the taxpayer. I am appalled.
Lesley Perfect Rasche, UK (I thought)

Britain's unfortunate history of pandering to amoral dictatorships seems to have been forgotten. By letting Jiang Zemin visit we legitimize his crimes and abandon the cause of human rights.
Tim, UK/USA

UK is a shame to the international community. You could at least make it clear to the bloody Chinese, by letting people demonstrate in public that you are - in part - against the totalitarian regime. If you are ??? What about the Tibetans, the Taiwanese, the Hong Kong'ers and so on... You - with your international influence, economic powers should stand up against the Chinese.
Jakob Holst, Denmark

Before you talk about the human rights record of the modern Chinese government, let's remember history. A century ago, the British sent gunboats to China in order to sell the harmful opium to the Chinese. The Chinese were humiliated and abused then. So, if you want to talk about human rights record, think about history first. Your very own "human rights record" over the Chinese people has never been that great.
Matthew Shin, Oxford, England

As a pacifist, one part, of me wants Tibet to be free! But as an amateur geographer/politician (arcane politician)I know that the best thing for Tibet is to stay an autonomous region of China(I'd rather be an amateur geographer).So, while I don't think we should welcome Jiang Zemin, I do not think we should be hostile toward the man.
Peter Crawford-Bolton(17), UK/US

If Human Rights had been such an issue then Britain should be shunned for what it had done till half of this century.
Srik, India

I think some western people are short of some basic knowledge about Tibet, its history and its today. They just "hope" the so-called "invasion" to be true, and they will be disappointed if it is not true. And they hate China getting stronger and stronger. How sick!
Guofang Xiao, China

I think London police are doing well by taking away flags other than Chinese and doing as much as possible for the welcome parade of Jiang Zemin. It's OK to put up protest cards on other days, but we wouldn't do that on the day at the very presence of the head of state who was invited by our own government. In fact no US president has ever been thrown an egg at in return for the two atomic bombs.
Hiroo Miyazaki Japan

We should all be ashamed to see Britons denied their right to protest so that the Government can placate a communist dictator of a country with a shameful human rights record. This is a sad day indeed. Could the fact that we are the biggest investor in China have anything to do with ths? I'm sure Tony Blair is a man of ethics.
Brett Wright, Great Britain

We have to have a degree of tolerance to the way that other countries manage their problems, after all we have little to be proud of when it comes to dealing with rebellious populations (the colonies, Palestine, Northern Ireland etc). However, there should be some kind of quiet, diplomatic censure hovering over such visits.
Steve Walker, Britain

China's leaders should not be welcome here while they continue to rule China with such brutality and threaten to invade Taiwan for choosing to "go it alone".
Ralph Lawson, UK

I have just returned from The Mall - disgusted. What is going on in this country - the Police confiscated all non-Chinese or British flags and banners. What has happened to free speech? The Chinese should be aware of opinions other than those of Mr Blair/Cook/Murdoch which are formed around trade not human rights.
Angus W L Thomas, UK

Should we roll out the red carpet for Jiang Zemin?

Final Votes:

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