I WATCHED our new Chinese economic overlord at his televised press conference on Wednesday (October 21), where he said that “China combines the ‘universal value’ of human rights with China's reality.

What part of “universal” does President Xi not understand? If something is universal it is not qualified by national distinctions or definitions.

It would appear that his definition of human rights is akin to China's definition of its apparently Marxist ideology – “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

President Xi seems to live in a Humpty Dumpty polity - "When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."

John McArthur,

131 Crowhill Street, Glasgow.

THE Chinese President's trip is billed as a state visit to Britain. As far as I am aware he is not setting foot outside England. If we are an equal family of nation as we were constantly told during the referendum campaign, why couldn’t the Chinese President have been wined and dined in the capital city of Edinburgh?

Willie Douglas,

252 Nether Auldhouse Road, Glasgow.