Nineteen other people were sentenced to prison terms. MUCH MORE
From the above article, an individual may surmise that when an industry sickens their own citizens, China reacts with strong measures to correct the atrocities that particular business committed. Unfortunately, that's not true, and when an industry causes great harm to their own citizens, it appears that "who" was harmed and which province the alleged crime was committed in is the underlying circumstance on whether or not the state will protect their own people. Unbelievable as it may sound, China actually punishes people who are merely seeking medical attention in a tactic that is called "killing a chicken to scare the monkeys".
China defends detention of lead poisoning victims who sought medical help
More than 50 villagers suffering from lead poisoning were detained after the bus taking them for health checks was stopped by police
Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 March 2010 12.32 GMT
Chinese authorities have defended the six-month detention of lead poisoning victims who were seeking medical care, saying the punishment was necessary for "public education".
Police in Jiahe, Hunan province, blocked a bus carrying 53 villagers who were on their way to get health checks last September, according to Chinese media.
Mistakenly believing the villagers were planning to protest, the police have detained two of them for the six months since on the charge of "disrupting traffic". Though it has since been proved that they and their children were contaminated by illegal emissions of heavy metals from a smelting factory, the local government was unapologetic.
"We may have blocked the wrong visit, but they should not have been on that road," Li Ying, deputy secretary of Jiahe county political and legislative committee told the Beijing News, which today published an investigation into the incident.
Ou Shudong, the chairman of the local People's Congress, told the newspaper the police roadblock and detentions were justified. "The villagers' intentions were unclear. Even if they were going for a medical examination, they should have informed the government." MUCH MORE
How can the United States and the European Union allow our corporations that are still outsourcing our jobs and economic survival continue to support Chinese businesses, especially when it is apparent that profits made in China often come at the expense of human suffering and even death of innocent civilians? The Chinese are beginning to dominate the global economy and they are doing it unfairly by refusing to properly value their own currency, they are polluting their own rivers and lakes to the point that it's killing their own citizens, and knowing that, China (is still) Drawing High-Tech Research From U.S. and our greedy corporations are now making profits on what can easily be construed as "Blood Money," which in our opinion, is extremely similar to the Blood Diamonds that were finally blocked (as much as they could) from Africa. Do high profits from China somehow differ from the atrocities that were committed in Africa or is life in Africa somehow valued greater than the lives which are lost in China on what seems to be a regular basis? When dictatorships murder and harm their own citizens to buy armaments in Africa via Blood Diamonds, they are universally condemned and are even referred to The Hague for crimes against humanity; why are profits that are made in China to support a militaristic regime that shows little or no respect for human life viewed in a different manner?
Obviously, the above questions were rhetorical; we know that for American and multi-national corporations, profit does trump life whether it's here or in China! Many of these global conglomerates are publicly held corporations and it's time for the stockholder's of these companies to start speaking out, and as citizens who are woefully undereducated on China's business practices to demand that these issues receive more attention through our own Mainstream News Media so that Americans who profit from these China based companies fully understand that their profits come at the expense of oppression and death to innocent Chinese civilians. Even in Asia, people are beginning to criticize China's government, and if countries that have far less clout than the United States or the European Union have the tenacity to bring these issues to light then it's imperative that we follow suit and join a universal cry for China to play fair or get thrown out of the game! Unless things change dramatically, it is far overdue to sanction China, bring back our manufacturing and help to revitalize our own economies rather than supporting a nation that allows it's own citizens to be detained and murdered, all in the name of profit.
William Cormier
NOTE: Please read the Asia Sentinal who published an excellent article on China's belligerence. Also, high-speed rail is coming to the United States and China is attempting to gobble-up those contracts as well as those for "green technology." We need to bombard Washington to ensure that contracts for major construction and green technology are designed and built by American companies, not the Chinese. If our Congress and Presidency continue to outsource our economy and long-term economic survivability to China, then we, especially those who are unemployed, need to raise holy hell until our own country makes a cognizant decision to support America, Not China, and to me, that's the patriotic way of viewing at least part of this growing economic dominance being perpetrated by China's inability to conduct business within acceptable "Western Values" if they expect us to continue purchasing their products.
Can China Afford its Belligerence? (This is a must-read article.)(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
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