For the record, I think pandas are cute and cool. Two of them arrived yesterday at the Toronto Zoo and will reside there for the next five years. Who knows, they may be fruitful and multiply. The Prime Minister looks comfortable with this panda encounter from an earlier trip, but he should because he's been cuddling up to the Chinese government for a while now.
I think China is great as well, except for its lousy human rights record, and religious persecution, and internet espionage, and rapacious consumption of foreign fuels, and unfettered pollution of water and air. Some pundits have offered that something as seemingly benign as playing host to the pandas indicates a familiarity with this nation espousing very different values which should make Canadian citizens very uncomfortable.
As we move our way through Holy Week which contrasts imperial power with God's reign I wonder if we make the connections between empires of old and those which flex their muscles today. Pandas look cuddly, but they can be very dangerous because they are powerful.
What do you think? Should we be poking our government to ask why it is so cozy with China, given all the concerns listed above? Is resistance futile, including from the Christian community? Will you go see Er Shun and Da Mao?
5 comments:
I recall seeing Bill Clinton on Letterman back around 2005 (to push his recently released autobio) and, when discussing climate change, he said that it was imperative that the Western world act to modernize and "green" its economy before those of China and India linked theirs into the existing industrial structure and grew in the old terms.
If we could head them off at the pass, so to speak, and ensure these emerging economies were more green, we'd be doing the world a favour.
Fast forward to today, and of all the problems you list with China, I think their environmental record is by far the worst. Now, however, there isn't a nation on Earth than can afford to ignore this economic and political monolith.
For us to be so cozy is really disappointing on so many levels.
Yes, we should absolutely keep pressuring China, India and other countries on being green. And yes, China and many other countries have dismal human rights records.
The problem is that we can then be criticized for the conditions in hundreds of northern aboriginal communities, and Canada's consumption of water and fossil fuels are sky high.
Governments need to be held accountable. But we as individuals can make a huge difference as well - whether we live in Canada or any other country.
I write this after having walked to work and yet again seeing at least 25 cars idling in a Tim Hortons drive thru. Don't even get me started on how I felt when one of those drivers tossed his cigarette out the window.
Time for another blood pressure pill...
well said, roger.
Ditto Roger!
Although I would add, that in our case we have something very special from China, our daughter!! :) - sadly it was because of single child policies and human rights records that we are a family.
We will likely make a visit to the Metro zoo to check out the pandas!
Yes, we can definitely improve our own practices. Two of you have experienced china's most precious export!
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