Kiwi MP's pro-China blog appalls Tibet's friends

Auckland (New Zealand), July 3 (ANI): A member of parliament of Chinese origin is facing fierce criticism for defending Chinese rule over Tibet on a Labour Party website.

Criticising Green Party co-leader Russel Norman's Tibetan flag protest in front of visiting Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping, MP Raymond Huo, wrote: "What Westerners do not know, or do not want to know ... is what level of cruelty the theocratic serfdom under the Dalai Lama had to offer."

According to the New Zealand Herald, Huo has come under strong criticism for his blog, which appears on Labour's Red Alert website.

Two days after the posting, the blog had received more than 70 responses.

"Reading this has made me feel sick to my stomach," wrote Velvetine.

Sprout said: "To think I spent all those years supporting Labour.

I can't believe this post appears under the Labour banner."

A Facebook user also gave Huo a mock "community co puckered lips" award with the following citation: "Awarded to Raymond Huo for making Labour just that little more red for his defence of the indefensible. For kissing Chinese ass."

Huo said if New Zealand was "an open court", then New Zealanders should "hear what other party or parties have to say on this issue".

Chinese troops entered Tibet in 1950, a move Beijing said was to "liberate" it from feudal rule. A failed uprising against Chinese rule resulted in many Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, fleeing into exile.

Huo has said his blog was not meant to support China or to put down the Dalai Lama, but rather to "open up discussion" on the issue. (ANI)