Sir, - No Chinese citizen likes to be reminded of the tragic events at Tiananmen Square, which Eric Crean refers in his letter (July 16th). They were as calamitous as the earlier and ill-judged Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. But time and events move forward as they do elsewhere.
What, one wonders, are the students who protested and demanded Western-style democracy doing 12 years later? Most of them are carving out lucrative careers for themselves in business and studying the city's stock exchange.
The policy of reform and opening up continues and hosting the Olympics will, as Niall Andrews states (July 16th), further open up China to greater influences from the international community.
Finally, I would invite Mr Crean to look at the number of asylum-seekers and refugees arriving at our shores fleeing persecution. Aside from the few, well-publicised dissidents how many from the Republic of China fall into that category? - Yours, etc.,
John F. Fallon, Boyle, Co Roscommon.