Judge China by those it befriends

[dArKeR]

They say you can judge people by the company they keep. The same can be said about countries. So what does it say about China when its foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing (???), skips the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) ministerial meeting to go visit Myanmar, at the same time that Chinese President Hu Jintao (???) is welcoming Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe to Beijing with full honors? This is the same China which responded to the carnage in Uzbekistan by inviting its president, Islam Karimov, to Beijing for a 21-gun salute in May, within two weeks of the Andizhan massacre.
This is the same China, one might add, that has systematically blocked stronger UN Security Council action against the genocidal government in Sudan and prevented the council from discussing North Korea's flagrant violation of international nuclear and human rights norms. As one surveys the globe's pariah regimes, it seems the one thing they all have in common is the same best friend: China.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2005/08/03/2003266245