Dominic Raab has not ruled out boycotting the Olympics.
The treatment of Uighur Muslims has shocked and saddened people all over the world, with over a million people being put into “re-education camps” in the Xinjiang region.
What we are seeing here is yet another example of the Chinese Government using their power to impinge upon the freedoms of Uighur Muslims. We cannot stand for this on any level – for too long, China has bullied its own people, now it is getting to the point of genocide, a word I do not use lightly.
There have been forced sterilisations of the Uighur peoples, and we are seeing nothing less than a full ethnic cleansing of the Uighurs in order to ensure long-lasting rule. The British Government, along with others in the international community, has been soft on the issue, merely condemning the Chinese government. This action is good, of course, but will not do anything meaningful.
We as the Western world do hold one trump card over the People’s Republic of China, though: the fact that we buy all their stuff…
Here in the West, over the last forty years, we have outsourced our production to China and other lesser economically developed countries, making them highly dependent on our business. We certainly have the means to hurt the Chinese Government, but it will come at a cost: things will become expensive as we move our manufacturing bases outside of China.
The Chinese Government knows this, we know this and it is why we are not going any further with sanctions – because we both need each other to continue our way of life. Unfortunately, this status quo cannot go on forever. We will have to make long-term sacrifices to curtail Chinese expansion or pay the price for it down the line.
The Chinese state is not stopping, so we must stop them ourselves. By economically stranding the People’s Republic, we can force through change. If we do not, the Uighurs will not be the last people the Chinese Government subjugates.
