Don’t be too hard on China

The recent editorial (T.N.M., Dec. 3-9/04) castigating China for its continued human rights abuses and restrictions of many of the freedoms we take for granted here in Canada was an unexpected and notable departure for The Northern Miner, receiving mention even in the Dec. 7 Globe and Mail. Does this mean the Miner is now adopting a more activist, engaged stance vis-a-vis the multitude of conflicts and social issues that beset our resource-limited globe?

While such abuses are well-documented (and most mining companies involved with China are, to some degree, aware of them), it is noteworthy that in this instance The Northern Miner, provoked by the arbitrary refusal to grant its representative the expected press credentials and media access to a recent meeting in Beijing, chose to highlight such repugnant aspects of the current regime rather than give it its more customary glancing mention.

Canadian mining and exploration companies are active around the world, inclusive of many countries whose human rights and development profiles are dismal, even malevolent, compared with Canada and most other developed democracies. However, except in the most extreme cases (Afghanistan and the Sudan, for example), most resource companies, like Canada itself, adhere to the view that economic interactions and development ultimately lead to improvements in that country’s society and government. Hence, for example, Canada, unlike the U.S., has official ties with Cuba, and Canadian resource and other companies are active participants in various sectors of the Cuban economy, even while Castro continues to imprison advocates of democracy.

It is good to be reminded of the halting and uncertain progress of human societies and the many injustices inflicted by various governments; however, it is also good to keep a historical perspective and a degree of pragmatism. In that regard, the recent reappearance of China on the world stage after several centuries of decline, and its remarkable recent economic advance, points towards greater democracy in the indeterminate future as well as an emerging economic superpower.

I would hope that the Miner would offer a suitably balanced perspective as it continues to play its role of reporting on mining and exploration developments (and their social and political contexts and conflicts) around the world.

Jerry Roth

President, Stratagex

Toronto