Honorable President Hu,
As a Danish citizen, I would like to welcome you to Denmark.
Denmark has freedom of expression and tradition to let everybody get a
chance to speak, even those who do not share our points of view.
Basic view of human nature
Denmark has had a long tradition of freedom, democracy and human
rights.
Our politicians have over the years argued for trade and dialogue as
the way to promote human rights in China.
The influence has unfortunately been the other way around. Our
politicians have to ensure trade relations with China compromised our
fundamental values. Especially in the declaration from 2009 in which we
as something quite unprecedented in international law, declared that we
will oppose to the independence of Tibet.
We have begun to feel the consequences of our politicians giving
priority to economy in preference to common decency. We see the early
signs towards a value-based view of human nature, in which the focus is
on whether the individual has a value to society or not.
This shows obviously that freedom is not a static condition that can be
won once and for all, but something you must constantly have focus on
and defend, and that these rights must necessarily be based on the
individual as stated in the UN 's Declaration of Human Rights.
United Nations
In Denmark we have tradition to assemble in associations, and it is
widely accepted that one cannot be a member of an association whose
basic principles one do not live in accordance with.
For the average Dane, therefore, it seems strange how China has been
able to ratify UN Human Rights Conventions, etc., while maintaining its
occupation of Tibet, continuing the crackdown on the Tibetan population
and not even securing its own people basic human rights.
Greenland
The Tibetan people are closely related to the Greenlandic people.
We are many who look with concern at the prospect that Chinese firms
are licensed to extract raw materials from the Greenland underground.
We fear that this will happen without adequate environmental
considerations as in Tibet.
Greenland now has autonomy, but has previously been a Danish colony.
China could benefit from our experience with the reform process when
introducing autonomy in Tibet.
The future
We have a common interest in ensuring that everybody gets the
opportunity to live a decent life in peace and freedom.
China can make a significant contribution just by acting up to ratified
international agreements on human rights, etc.
Published 12 June 2012
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