More on China and Human Rights

My colleague Elizabeth Brown sent me the following comment regarding Rick and my posts (here and here) on human rights issues in China:

"When I was in Bhutan in 2002 and in China in 2006, I was told that China's solution to its minorities was to flood them with Han Chinese.  I was told that Tibet cannot escape China's grasp because too many Han Chinese have been given incentives to move into Tibet.   Tibet is no longer Tibet, any more than South Dakota is Lakota. This was certainly true in western China where the native Uighurs have been inundated with Han Chinese who are given the best jobs and substantial incentives to relocate. 

"China has been creating a Potemkin Village in Beijing to put on a good face for the 2008 Olympics.  One problem that they can't hide is their horrendous environmental pollution.  You can almost eat the air in Beijing.  I would not want to be a track and field athlete at the 2008 games.

"Engagement must mean something more than letting China get away with murder (or significant human rights violations) just because American companies are entranced with the possibility with selling to 1 billion plus Chinese.  Most of what American companies produce in China is sold outside the country, not in it.  Global trade is more of a mixed blessing than most free market conservatives are willing to admit."