China Is No One's Friend

Remember our red, rotund friend in the east? You know, the one with most favored nation trading status; the one that loathes Christianity and hates with a passion every ideal that we take for granted? The one that revels in stamping out liberty in size fifteen steel-toed boots?

Yep, that one. Well, here's what's going on in good ol' China, these days:

The communist Chinese government bulldozed a Catholic Church building in Xi'an city, wounding 16 nuns.

The U.S.-based China Aid Association, citing "reliable sources," said about 30 uniformed young men rushed into the church with wooden sticks in their hands at about 6 p.m. Nov. 22.

Two hours later, a bulldozer started tearing down the place of worship.

China Aid said officials from the government's religious affairs bureau came to the site, and the destruction was halted until the next evening.

Then, about 40 uniformed young men armed with sticks started beating the nuns, who were defending the church building, China Aid said.

Sixteen nuns suffered severe wounds, including eye injuries and broken legs.

China Aid described the attackers as "government-hired gangsters."

All Protestant and Catholic churches in China are required to be under control of the government, and groups that do not register – the vast majority – are labeled "illegal cults."

If that's not enough, here's some more:

A United Nations rights investigator has said that torture was still widespread in China and accused authorities of trying to obstruct his work on a historic 12-day fact-finding mission.

Torture methods cited in a press release at the end of his trip included use of electric shock batons, cigarette burns, submersion in pits of water or sewage and exposure to conditions of extreme heat or cold.

Some techniques were apparently so widespread that they had generated a special terminology, such as "exhausting an eagle", where prisoners are forced to stand on a tall stool and beaten to the point of exhaustion.

Police in Tibet and Xinjiang have engaged in long-standing crackdowns on separatists, and human rights groups regularly report widespread abuse of detainees there.

Consider this: If the UN--perhaps the most corrupt and inefficient organization on planet earth--has made this determination and is concerned about these abuses, how deep and pervasive must the problem actually be?

Keep these stories in mind, the next time you hear someone imply that China is our friend. If we are known by the company we keep, the United States should distance itself from this wretched hellhole as much as possible.