THREAD: I would like to make some points in response to this article. This might be a long thread :)

1. Humility is always a good thing. We should always strengthen our values at home and look to how we can improve. But it should never be an excuse for inaction for others. https://twitter.com/Bkerrychina/status/1292863711074549763

2. It's vital to distinguish between the Chinese Communist Party & China as a country & people, both to prevent - indeed counter - any anti-Chinese racism, & avoid feeding the CCP's narrative

I love China, have many Chinese friends, have been in & around China all my adult life

3. However, NO ONE that I know who is engaged in advocacy for human rights in China & for a re-think of our approach to the Chinese Communist Party is in any way anti-China. On the contrary, they do it - like me - because they value the universal values of freedom & human rights

4. There is no moral equivalency between free world & CCP. Western democracies have challenges but we do not have concentration camps, nor do we jail politicians/activists whose views the government dislikes, nor do the police raid newsrooms, disappear booksellers, abduct people

5. Nicola Sturgeon is not in jail for advocating Scottish independence, she is in government and her party is the third largest party in Parliament. If she or her party were in #HongKong, they'd all be in jail.

6. And while we should always seek to be better, the idea that we should wait until our own house is completely in order before we speak up for those whose basic freedoms are denied and who face grave torture, rape, slave labour and other egregious violations is absurd

7. If my house was burgled and on fire, I would not ask my neighbour whether they had done the washing up and hoovered their carpets before helping me - I'd want them to help immediately.

8. So yes, let's always look to how we can do better, always cherish, guard and defend our values of freedom, democracy, human rights at home, but let us never be shy or swift to speak out for those who need our voices and act for those who need our help.

Correction to point 8 - I meant: Let's never be shy or fail to be swift to speak out :) In other words, we should always be quick to speak out :)