One of China’s leading human rights activists, Chen Guangcheng, has escaped house arrest and is believed to be with American diplomats in Beijing. Chen is a self-taught lawyer who has been a strong activist in trying to halt forced abortions and sterilizations. Except for a four year period, during which he was imprisoned on charges of disrupting traffic, Chen and his family had been harassed and kept under house arrest since the summer of 2005.

It has been said that Chen’s escape could be the worst diplomatic crisis between the US and China since Tiananmen Square. A long needed talk between American and Chinese diplomats is scheduled for later this week to discuss economic and security issues like Iran, North Korea, and Syria; both sides say the crisis will not overshadow the talks, but that seems unlikely knowing how much China hates other nations interfering with its human rights policies.

What this single event boils down to is that the United States has to make a sacrifice: Let China get away with human rights violations, or risk economic and martial security. Should the United States take a stand on violations of what should be natural rights, or should it exercise Realpolitiks and stick to business? I think it should take a stand.

For over 50 years, the United States has imposed an embargo on Cuba because of its communist government and its limits on civil liberties, yet we ignore China’s blatant encroachments of international, universal, and natural laws. One could argue that the United States take on an approach of ethical egoism, but I believe we should defend, if not by force but by lack of interaction, the freedom of the individual. I believe that the Guangcheng affair will be a benchmark in modern foreign policy with China and other nations committing human rights violations, as such. Our lack of initiative here could result in retrogression in societies all over the world; the time to stand up for human rights is now.