It’s all About the Money...

Prior to a recent visit to China, the USA’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying that she would press China on human rights but that those issues would not keep the USA and China from working together to address the global financial crisis.

In a world where we often hear politicians talk about moral leadership, human rights and democracy it’s interesting to hear someone’s true motives coming to the fore albeit unintentionally. As always we find a politician making a grand claim or promise with no real intention on following through on the words of the promise because their priority is actually revealed in the afterthought. What do I mean by this?

Clinton said that she was going to press China on human rights – something that we have heard about from time to time. China’s involvement in various alleged human rights infringements have been in the news over recent months and years – whether it’s the treatment of pro-democracy voices inside their own country, the treatment of Tibet or their connection to the events in the Darfur region. While this sounds encouraging what follows the but reveals their true priorities. Economics. More specifically their priority is the mess caused by US banks and multinationals. Sure it’s going to be sold as something that is in the best interests of the global economy but realistically the bottom line is seen as more of a priority than lives and rights of unknown non-Westerners.

Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t surprise me in the least. It’s just refreshing to see true motives being revealed, even if it was unintentional.