China long ago became a right wing dictatorship, not communist, and the trade unions should stand in solidarity with those resisting it

The foreign policy of capitalist governments, even our local executive, is always driven by the search for markets and prestige, not human rights concerns.

In order to pursue these interests, they are willing to brush aside the crimes of right wing dictatorships, a category into which the so-called Chinese ‘Communist’ Party (CCP) now falls.

Long ago, this dictatorship wiped out the important gains won by Chinese workers and peasants in the 1949 revolution and reintroduced all the brutalities of the capitalist market while maintaining their iron grip on power. The CCP is now a billionaires’ club and its relationship with Chinese capitalism is symbiotic.

The NSL essentially outlaws all criticism of the Beijing regime and all effective forms of protest in Hong Kong. It allows political opponents to be deported to mainland China, where they may simply be disappeared.

Its aim is to strike fear into the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, but also to send a warning to workers and youth in mainland China, who are increasingly refusing to accept poverty, insecurity and dictatorial rule.

Many Chinese youth are beginning to again look towards the real ideas of socialism.

The trade union movement on these islands should stand clearly in solidarity with those resisting dictatorship and capitalist exploitation in Hong Kong and China itself.

That means being willing to use its industrial power to apply pressure on companies tied to the CCP regime.

As well as opposing the NSL and the horrific oppression of the Uighur people in Xinjiang, a key demand should be for the right of Chinese workers themselves to form independent trade unions.

Daniel Waldron, Socialist Party, Omagh

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