Actually, we are on same page....by responsibilities, I mean, human rights.....I understand why China can not pay Western wages, etc.....no problem there.
But the other day, a dozen Chinese kids died in their own school. Why? Because the children were forced during lunch-hour to load firecrackers/fireworks.....at school....apparently, their teachers forced them to do it, and were penalizing them if they did not participate. (The poor parents, farmers and the like, couldn't do anything about it. Their pleas to local authorities were ignored). The teachers/principals helped supplement their salaries
by selling the fireworks made by 10 and 12 year olds....
There are several problems here: Child slave labor/Abuse of power/Using a school as a place for business, etc......I would be more understanding if this was some renegade situation (a school not following the law)...but the fact is that both state and federal government policies in China encourage such behavior (government institutions running "for profit" businesses on the side......of course, you know about the army's business dealings)...Worse of all, I have a tremendous problem with official government abuse of children, I don't care how poor a country is..
It is one thing for a poor family to send an underage child out to work (like in Central America)...that is wrong, but at least the governments there come out "officially" against it........its another, altogether, IMO, for a government to sanction and even promote such behavior...like in China.
This is the ugly side of the Chinese Machivellian tendencies....I am a great admirer of their history, and sympathize greatly with the difficulties of dragging such a behemoth into the modern world...but children should never be abused. Ever. (If it takes your country another 50 years to catch up with the rest of the world, so be it). |
