Chinese goods boycotted

May 19, 2008
In cooperation with BNS

RIGA- Union Latvia calls to boycott Chinese goods for two weeks in protest against human rights violations in China and Tibet.

The union's spokeswoman Ieva Apsite told BNSthat the campaign "Don't Buy Chinese Goods" will be held to inform Latvian residents that "by buying each good made in China they morally and financially support human rights violations in China and its intolerant politics against residents of this country as well as other nations and countries".

The union urges stores, cafes, clubs to put stickers in their windows, saying "We Don't Sell Chinese Goods".

Apsite said that the boycott of Chinese products also relates to the inferior quality of these goods, which have caused serious concerns not only in the US and European markets, but also in China itself.

The campaign will start on June 2 and will last for two weeks.

The union said that music stores Randoms and Upe, club Melnais Kakis have already voiced their readiness to participate in the campaign, while other stores and cafes are still considering it.

Similar boycott campaigns have also been held in the US, Canada, the UK and France.

On March 14, hundreds of local residents, including Buddhist monks, went out on the streets of the Tibetan capital Lhasa to demonstrate against Beijing's rule in Tibet. In the following days Tibetans staged more demonstrations that were violently quashed by Chinese authorities in what was the largest unrest in Tibet in about 20 years.

China occupied Tibet in 1951 and since has been frequently accused of attempting to eradicate the Tibetan culture by political and religious oppression as well as promoting Chinese migration to Tibet.

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama had to leave Tibet in 1959 after unsuccessful uprising against the Chinese Communist regime. After the escape he formed Tibetan exile government in Dharamsala, India. There are presently over 200,000 Tibetan refugees living in India.

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