Martin Lee Chu-ming has been a friend and colleague for 14 years. Every so often he does something which reminds me why he is a great man. His call for US President George W. Bush to use the Olympics to pressure China to improve its human rights was such an occasion.
In making this statement, Mr Lee was giving a voice to millions of oppressed people on the mainland who cannot speak out publicly, save at great personal risk. People like blind activist Chen Guangcheng , imprisoned for campaigning against forced abortions; like Wang Wan- xing, held for 13 years in a mental hospital for raising a banner in Tiananmen Square in 1992 calling for democracy; like Xu Zerong, the historian imprisoned for research which would be completely uncontroversial in any free country.
And, like the mainland official who, when I complained about my reserved train seat being commandeered by a Communist Party delegate, said: 'You know, we do not have human rights in this country'.
The people who have attacked Mr Lee in the Hong Kong media must know it is impossible to avoid hearing on the mainland the widespread private complaints from ordinary people about the lack of human rights. If, that is, they ever visit the mainland, of which they profess to be so fond.
In 1978, US president Jimmy Carter announced that human rights would be central to American foreign policy. The next day, a poster appeared on Beijing's Democracy Wall. It read: 'We would like to ask you to pay attention to the state of human rights in China.'
Regrettably, American presidents, from Mr Carter to George W. Bush, have been more interested in promoting the trade and investment interests of American business than human rights. The US has ignored repeated opportunities to help bring human rights to China, particularly in 1978 (the Democracy Wall movement), 1989 (Tiananmen Square) and 1998, when Bill Clinton failed to give effective help to the fledgling China Democracy Party. All the signs are that another historic opportunity presented by the Olympics is about to be missed.