President George Bush used the occasion of the Olympics this month as an opportunity to highlight and criticise China for oppressing her people. On the eve of the Opening Ceremony, Bush used particularly strong language condemning China, and pressing for her to give greater freedoms to the Chinese people. On his flight to the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, British PM Gordon Brown stressed the importance that China upholds its human rights progress and promises during and after the conclusion of the Olympic Games.

PM Brown defended his trip to Beijing by emphasising the need to encourage China’s ‘re-engagement’ in the world, which is in Britain’s national interest. Criticism of China’s human rights records has not been met warmly by Chinese officials. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang argued that China is in fact taking steps to protect human rights. The protection of human rights is enshrined in the country’s constitution.

However China’s arrest of U.S. citizens during a pro-Tibet independence demonstration during the Olympics has shown that this may not necessarily be the case. In response, Gang cited Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural speech which highlighted the importance of ‘preserving the unification of the nation’, which is precisely what China seeks to uphold.