The founding chairman of the Democratic Party, Martin Lee Chu-ming, has every right to draw attention to China's poor human rights record. Indeed, if his conscience has called on him to do so, he should ignore political exigencies and simply do the right thing.
Conscience is a universal demand that goes beyond politics, ethnicity and nationality. But isn't he getting in bed with the devil? First, consider the forum in which he aired his views. The Wall Street Journal is a national treasure for the US, its business reporting unrivalled in the world and a must-read for investors worldwide.
But its editorial pages are something else. The most rabid, extreme, sometimes deranged right-of-right-wing views find their home there. 'Free Market American Capitalism' is capitalised, like a religion, like God; everyone and everything else that don't agree with its extremist ideology are trashed.
Then consider the man he sought help from. There are US presidents and there are US presidents. Did Mr Lee appeal to George W. Bush because he admires the man, or because any sitting US president would do? Does he think Mr Bush stands for human rights, freedom and civil liberty?
With the possible exception of Richard Nixon, it would be hard to find a post-war president who has been as polarising at home and abroad. Mr Bush came to power in a hotly contested election without a clear mandate. He has trampled on domestic constitutional rights at home and unleashed terrifying violence and bloodshed overseas, all in the name of fighting terror.
Mr Lee is a distinguished barrister, so he understands these legal concepts far better than I do. The Geneva Conventions, a myriad of international conventions against torture and habeas corpus, have all been suspended in this 'war on terror' under an imperial presidency with convoluted legal arguments that fly in the face of two centuries of US constitutional interpretations.
Kangaroo military courts are used to legitimise detaining terror suspects indefinitely without trial or charges. Black sites were being used - and perhaps still are - with friendly allies across Europe to hold, interrogate and torture terror suspects without any legal accountability.