Discussion & Essay Practice - Government

1. There have been issues of a diplomatic row over several decades between China and certain western countries. The major issue of dispute has been focused on Tibetans' rights of freedom, especially in culture and religion. To solve this long-lasting dispute, I think the Chinese government should open the door for dialogue with Dalai Lama, who is seen as the spiritual leader of Tibetans. By doing so, the world will see a channel of communication between the two sides and may intervene less. In addition, a genuine dialogue could also win Tibetans' support and eventually provide a solution to the deadlock.

2. In this modern networked age, the censorship of media has its advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, certain degree of censorship is necessary to prevent false information about sensitive topics and unhealthy messages to spread widely and cause social unrest. This is particularly important to a big country like China. For example, the recent Urumqi riot was caused by a piece of false information spread through SMS. However, over-censorship could suppress media freedom and cause harm to the media industry, especially the Internet, which is one of the fastest-growing sectors in China

Essay Practice
National identity is the depiction of a country as a whole, encompassing its culture, traditions, language, sovereignty and politics. In the current trend of globalisation, there is a tendency that a country may lose its national identity. In my opinion, governments today should emphasise the value of national identity to a greater extent than ever before. This is because there are potential threats of the stability of a country or a region in the globalisation climate. That is why some countries like China strongly emphasise the value of its national identity. In this context, a country would want to conserve its culture value to avoid segregation of its territory and prevent foreign countries from intervening its government and politics.