Trading with China

The latest move by the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to arrest peaceful citizens protesting about this draconian new law restricting civil liberties, reminds us all of what type of country China is currently.

A country that arrests its own citizens regularly, deports Muslim ethnic minorities to mind control camps, re-educates Tibetans, tortures prisoners and generally bullies countries around the world, should not be such a crucial trading partner. We must endeavour to widen our range of key trading partners so we are not vulnerable to bully-boy tactics.

Funny how we see demonstrations about the United States, alleged racism in Western countries, so-called colonisation etc, but never about the ruthless Chinese and Russian regimes. Timothy John Skinner, Upper Hutt

Whether we are talking about Ma¯ ori, Norwegian, French or any other language, her attitude is simply inconsiderate and disrespectful. I should not have to settle for my name being pronounced incorrectly and neither should anyone else regardless of the language. That is why there is ‘‘all the fuss’’.

Further, if Josie has such trouble recognising whether ‘‘tu¯ ı¯’’ is singular or plural, presumably ‘‘sheep’’ and ‘‘fish’’ provoke equal confusion for her. If not, why not? Because those words are ‘‘English’’?

I am tired of hearing Pa¯ keha¯ New Zealanders complain about being asked to say Ma¯ ori words correctly. The insistence that it is too hard, too confusing or (ironically) too foreign is just a copout.

Annelise Schroeder, Featherston