April 24th, 2008China’s Naivete Proves International Opinion
With all the news and outrage over the nation’s history of human rights offenses and oppressive maneuvering, China’s leaders issued a plea asking the world to stop mixing sports and politics. This comes as the possibility of a general boycott of the opening ceremonies by various governments gains momentum, which threatens to seriously jeopardize the excessively symbolic song and dance where China positions themselves as an emerging world power with a central role in the planet’s affairs. What China doesn’t seem to realize, though, is that sports and politics have been closely linked for thousands of years.
One obvious example is found in the 1936 Olympic Games held in Germany. There was far more Nazi propaganda during the two weeks in Berlin than there were games. The same can be said for East and West Germany’s decision to send a unified Olympic team in 1990. Germany is not the only nation to use the Games for political reasons either, as Japan, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, and the United States have all done the same.
To say that international sports and politics could be separated in today’s ever-interconnected world of sensationalist media than it was 70 years ago is so far beyond optimistic it’s deemed idiotic.
Beijing was granted the dubious honor of hosting The Games due to an abnormally imbalanced mixture of politics, economics, bribery and greed. What we see in the biased media today is just the culmination of prejudice, hypocrisy, incompetence and a damn near criminal lack of foresight on both sides of the Great Wall.
The protests and demonstrations occurring around the world on the Tibetan and Xinjiang insurrections should come as no surprise. Just like the UN, the Chinese government is just not capable of self-reformation. The nation had bribed the hardest to get the Olympics as a means to an end, and nothing more. In this case, the end involves an incredibly choreographed symbolic opportunity to celebrate their status in the world, while also showing the planet’s leaders that China is willing to take on a giant role in international affairs. That said, with the surprises in Tibet and Xinjiang, the nation’s leaders have resorted to the traditional tools of authority: turning their citizens against the foreign threats beyond their borders.
Ignorance Is Bliss
What I find odd is the “what did we do?” attitude exuded by political leaders, such as Hu Jintao. China has only recently come out of their 1000 year self-imposed isolation with the hopes of being part of the global village and, while the world is in a better position to solve problems if everyone has a place at the table, the Chinese have yet to fully understand what it means to be a fair and balanced society. This isn’t to say that any other nation has a perfect political and social system in place, because that would mean my ignorance bordered on the ludicrous rather than just near-sighted idealism, but the communist regime within the Great Walls often encourages their people to hold massive demonstrations against anyone that would dare to say that China’s collective gas doesn’t smell like a fresh bouquet of roses.
Of course, Western nations are just as guilty of hypocrisy and incompetence. The IOC hadn’t even finished their speech granting China the luxury of hosting the 2008 Games before America and several European nations started slinging the monkey dung. They argued that China held human rights, democracy and a fair standard of living in low regard, while at the same time building massive factories to pollute the land and hire the cheap labor at a fraction of what it would have cost in their home nations. It does make one wonder just what the western governments expected of China, though. Were they expecting the massive nation to suddenly become America 2.0? Built on the same foundation of classical democracy, equal opportunities, and referring to itself as “one nation under God” ?
Anyone who actually thought this would happen was either the king of wishful thinking, or incredibly stupid.
In China, the Status-Quo is the Way To Go
For all its ups and downs, China is a status-quo rising power that does not want to infuriate the international scene just yet. At the same time, although they are beginning to see the cracks in their political system, they’re not quite at the point where instituting some type of reform is necessary. Western nations also need to keep in mind that China is not likely to bend to foreign pressures. If anything, they’ll start putting restrictions on the number of exports and foreign-owned businesses within their borders. For better or for worse, many of the world’s largest companies are in bed with the Chinese, and they don’t want to push too hard for fear of disastrous reprisals.
Just like we saw with Germany in the half-century after the Second World War, no amount of external pressure will turn China into the country the West wants to see. The only way this ancient and proud nation will reform their political system or improve their human rights record is if they realize that their lack of fair laws and proper enforcement jeopardizes their long-term goals of being a respected key member of the global village.
Chinese officials must think we are all stupid.
Below is a funny qoute from a Chinese Olympic Official regarding the Olympic Torch Relay. (CNN.com)
“Liu Jingmin, vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said the Olympic torch has been “warmly welcomed by the local people” in each city.”
The Chinese Government is so used to lying to their own people that they forget that the rest of the world sees through their lies.
Since the Chinese clearly chose to use the Olympics as a political tool to promote themselves, it is clearly appriopriate for the rest of the world to use the Olympics to protest China’s abuses as well.
Yes, the Olympics are political and always have been.