Mandy lays into the Chinese

Full marks to Peter Mandelson for laying in to the Chinese on human rights after a speech yesterday. Asked why the West maintained its arms embargo, imposed following Tiananmen, he linked it explicitly to China’s “illogical” position on human rightys. And he was nicely dismissive of their relativist approach to rights (eating matters more than speaking freely). This is how my colleague Peter Foster reports it in today’s Telegraph:

“To take such a relativist view of human rights leads into very difficult territory,” he said. “Should someone who has enough food, and lives in decent enough accommodation not have the right of freedom of political expression?

“And if you can march, make speeches and vote but don’t have a roof over your head, is that enough? No. To create a hierarchy of rights is very difficult to sustain, logically and in practice.” Standing his ground in the face of some intense questioning from the Party School audience, Lord Mandelson said that rising wealth in China would create more public pressure for more freedom of expression which, he added, was essential for a healthy, knowledge-based economy.

“If you’re making progress – if in practice you are giving people greater fulfilment in their rights, that’s very different from a society that’s repressive and run in a way that deliberate seeks to deprive people of their rights,” he said.

“My view is that as standards of living rise in China then we are going to see [the desire for] all these rights rising across society; people will wish to live more freely.

“As development becomes more inclusive and people become richer, so too will their desire for [self] expression. As their desire to express themselves becomes stronger so will their creativity become stronger which will be a major driver of economic growth in China.”