Lurching from one to another has made little sense. President Bill Clinton having criticised George Bush for pampering Beijing's dictators has come perilously close to doing exactly that himself. The decision earlier this year by both Europe and the U.S. not to censor China at the UN Human Rights Commission marked the low point for contemporary western policy. Engagement is one thing. Blindness, timidity and forsaking the root-essentials of what western society has achieved after its own painful evolution is another.
China is at the end of an era.
Marxism and Maoism are dead. Sometimes, as Patten concludes, one has to pinch oneself to remember who needs who most. It is quite pathetic, it is laughable, but above all distasteful that western countries regularly betray each other, and in so doing the human rights activists inside China, in an effort to better position themselves in this quite modest market place. Next week s referendums to approve the Northern Ireland peace agreement. Hong Kong's first elections since China took over.