Ahern takes mild view of Chinese dictatorship

IN your report headlined ‘Ireland may boycott Olympic ceremony’ (March 29), Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern says Ireland is “one of the strong supporters of the one-China policy and we do so on the basis that China deals with situations in a democratic and fair way on their own territory”.

How can Mr Ahern consider China a country that runs things in a democratic way when the base level of democracy has not been fulfilled?

President Hu Jintao was selected, not elected, and governance still belongs to the Chinese Communist Party in a single party system.