China-UK ties marred by execution
- Source: Global Times
- [02:42 December 31 2009]
- Comments
Akmal Shaikh
By Sun Wei
Britain's accusation of China's zero-tolerance policy toward a British drug smuggler has caused discord in bilateral ties.
"Drug trafficking is a grave crime worldwide. In China, given the bitter memory of history and the current situation, the public has a particular and strong resentment toward it," an official statement from the Chinese embassy in London said. "The legal structures of China and UK may be different, but that should not stand in the way of enhancing our bilateral relations on the basis of mutual respect."
Jonathan Fenby, the author of The Penguin History of Modern China, told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that the statement was referring to the Opium Wars fought between the two countries in the middle of the 19th century, when attempts by the Chinese government to disrupt opium trade were met with force and Britain twice started a war to protect its stranglehold on the opium market and expand its reach into China.
British merchants forced the Chinese to grant them access to Chinese ports and won the right for their citizens to be exempt from Chinese law.
"How much your average Chinese person would think about it I'm not sure but it would be taught in Chinese schools for instance," Fenby said. "If you spoke to the average 20 or 30-something Chinese person they would say the British forced us to take opium. It is established as part of the historical story."
In a recent web survey on huanqiu.com, 97 percent of netizens who responded supported the execution of Akmal Shaikh, who was arrested for entering China carrying 4 kilograms of heroin in 2007.
Some netizens described it as "the modern Opium War."
"The execution of Shaikh is to some degree like the burning of opium stocks in Humen (Beach) in 1840 during the Opium Wars," said Zhou Ning, director of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Xiamen University. "But this time, the 'gunboat diplomacy' could not work."
Shaikh's execution has provoked strong criticism from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who condemned it in the strongest terms. The EU was also furious about China's decision.
"It is possible that the EU vents their anger against China accumulated in the Copenhagen summit and the devaluation of the Chinese currency," said Jin Canrong, vice dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China. "The EU is beginning a new anti-China wave."
There are also supporters of the execution back in the UK.
"It is the height of hypocrisy for the Labour government, the human-rights brigade and celebrity loudmouths to lecture China when Britain's own strategy has failed so disastrously," a report entitled "Sorry not to join the liberal wailing: heroin traffickers deserve to die," published in tabloid Daily Mail.
"There is nothing barbaric about the death penalty. The real barbarism lies in refusing to punish criminals," the columnist said, adding that the willingness to execute dangerous criminals is a sign of compassion. "It means a government is determined to protect the vulnerable and maintain morality."
Agencies contributed to this story
