Economic Progress, Rights in China

* “Can One Eat Liberty?” Ying Ma’s commentary (Nov. 2) is flawed in its economics, politics and morality. She accepts the unproved implication that one must sacrifice political freedom in order to gain economic progress. The events of the 20th century would suggest otherwise.

Ma implicitly accepts repression and murder as legitimate political tools. The truth is that the political ideology underlying China’s power structure is too weak to survive open debate, so power, as Mao said, must come from the barrel of a gun, not the will of the people.

As to the last, Ma would have us believe that the Chinese value freedom so lightly that they would willingly trade it away for “heat, modern toilet facilities and abundant food.” Leaving aside the fact that they would likely have gained these material comforts more quickly under a system similar to the one that produced them in the United States, it is an insult to the dignity of the Chinese people to suggest that they would gladly swap their dignity for a doughnut.

MORRIS E. SCHORR

Woodland Hills

* Thank you for Ma’s excellent article. As a Chinese American, I have serious doubts about the commitment of American people to China’s human rights. I did not hear much American criticism of the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, which resulted in the massacre of millions of people.

With a population of 1.2 billion to feed, the Chinese government has to take necessary steps to maintain social stability and does not deserve criticism of how it manages its internal policies.

NELSON MAR

Irvine

* Ma asked, “Can one eat liberty?” I ask, “Can one live without liberty?” China and America are two countries blessed with tremendous resources, but one thing that separates the two is America’s belief in basic human rights.

The economic progress in China may be huge in Ma’s opinion, but it is no match for the Asian democratic counterparts, Japan and Taiwan, two much smaller countries with fewer resources.

Economic well-being is not the most important thing in life, and certainly not at the expense of liberty. If China continues to deny human rights to its people and the people of Tibet, it will be stepping into the path of peril rather than prosperity.

BENJAMIN CHEN

Rowland Heights