Letter to the Editor

Learning Chinese? Why?

First published in print and on-line in the Dutch magazine Intermediair, (circulation ~ 170,000 the week of March 22, 2010, an English version of a letter penned by Ruud Addink appears on this page. The author, our group’s treasurer, wrote the letter in response to an article about jobs available in China for foreigners and on how more people in the West are learning Chinese. The magazine targets professionals younger than 45. The letter reads:

Learning Chinese? Why? The whole world is learning English, also in China. We already have a world language. Easy isn’t it? Furthermore, we should take a critical look at China, a country that appears to be ruled by a criminal regime. Forced abortions because of the 1-child policy; female fetuses that are aborted in large numbers; the highest number of executions in the world each year for all sorts of trangressions, including economic crime and simple theft; genocide in Tibet; sweatshops; no independent unions; prisoners of conscience and political prisoners; communist in name only but in reality extremely capitalistic; totalitarian government; persecution of Christians, Falun-gong, Muslims; repression of ethnic minorities along the borders (e.g. Uighurs); no longer free universal health care. No wonder that in our American Amnesty International group to which I belong here in the US for 15 years we are always writing letters to China.

~ Ruud Addink

Note: Link to the cover of the issue which prompted the letter, here.

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About the author: Ruud Addink first joined Amnesty International’'s letter writing efforts with a local group in the Netherlands. He later changed his residency to the United States, and has joined his human rights efforts with our Local Group 361 which meets in Albany, NY, USA.

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