My respect for the City of York Council went literally overnight when I learned that government representatives from China were made more than welcome in our city under the auspices of a trade mission.

China is a country so totally opposed to criticism or questioning by its population - it massacred an unknown number of its young in Tienanmen Square. Remember tanks crushing bicycles and teenagers?

Its intent to 'absorb' Tibet means the imprisonment, torture and disappearance of countless Tibetan people - gentle, peaceful people with massive spiritual integrity.

Did our Lord Mayor, Coun Peter Vaughan, think of these people in their filthy prisons at the 'lavish dinner' at the Mansion House?

Did Paul Murphy and Liz Freely see any comparisons when they hear York being described as a 'beautiful environment with rich heritage'? Tibet was once this.

Is MP Hugh Bayley really comfortable with all of this? How can the Archbishop of York give his permission for these people to visit York Minster? To say nothing about all of this can be seen as condoning it. Is this what we have become - to casually ignore massive human suffering for the sake of 'trade'?

Do any of these people feel they can respond to this letter and reassure me and many others in York that they are at least aware of what is happening in Tibet and will at some point refer to it when next they fawn over the Chinese government?

Jonathan Charles Bonner,

Huntington Road,

York.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.