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| Holy Whatabout, Batman! |
LETTER TO SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
I'm kind of sick of the incessant "whataboutery" in these pages.
Examples: China may steal technology, sure, but whatbout the US? Yes, China may unfairly subsidise its exports, but whatbout Europe? OK, China may improperly hinder imports, but whatabout Japan? [per your David Dodwell or Robert Delaney on any given day].Alex Lo today: yes, China may jail random expat Canadians, "but what about the US?" Which, according to Lo, is wielding the "so-called" rule of law to arrest Huawei's Meng Wanzhou.
I encourage Lo to do a thought experiment: where would he prefer to be jailed, China or the US? Would he rather criticise Xi Jinping on Beijing's Wanfujing or harangue Trump on New York's Broadway? Try it. And find out just how "so-called" the US legal system is. China jails people arbitrarily, but "whatabout the US" doesn't cut it. There's no equivalence in the law and there's no equivalence in the treatment of dissent.
The fact is there is no equivalence between the arrest of Ms Meng and the jailing of unfortunate Canadians. Let's not forget the charges against Meng have been made public, that she has been read her rights and that she is out on bail, consulting with her lawyers on a defence. Meantime, the hapless Canadians? They haven't even been allowed lawyers, let alone to prepare a defence. One is on death row! Whatabout that??
A final bit of whataboutery: US is run by lawyers; China is run by engineers (it shows). What about both countries getting a bit more in balance? More lawyers in China and more engineers in the US. Whatbout that? Isn't that something we could all get behind?
Meantime: enough of the tu quoque, already!
Pf, etc...
