Tibet and the Olympics
A flaming row
Apr 9th 2008
From Economist.com
Protests over Tibet could overshadow the Beijing Olympics. China has the means to defuse the row
IT IS still four months before athletes gather in Beijing for the Olympics, but already the games are embroiled in controversy as protests grow over human-rights abuses in Tibet. The immediate concern for China’s government and for the international Olympic movement is that preparations for a showcase sporting event are being disrupted by political confrontation, which could lead to protests or boycotts of the games themselves. The pressing desire for pro-independence campaigners in Tibet, where an ongoing crackdown by Chinese authorities has claimed more lives in recent weeks, is to take advantage of the opportunity to garner world attention for their cause.
Gradually the voices speaking out about Tibet are growing louder. On Wednesday April 9th Australia’s prime minister, Kevin Rudd, a friend of China and fluent Mandarin speaker on his first trip to the country since taking office, used a speech to students in Peking University to talk of “significant human-rights problems” in the region. He called, too, for dialogue between China’s government and the spiritual leader of Tibet, the Dalai Lama.
Mr Rudd’s comments followed days of protests in Athens, London, Paris and San Francisco, as the Olympic torch was taken on a world tour to promote the Beijing games. As the Olympic flame was carried through those cities, guarded by thuggish-looking security guards in blue tracksuits, it quickly became the focus for criticism of China over its repressive rule in Tibet. Police in London arrested three dozen Tibet-independence campaigners as the celebrities and athletes carrying the flame were hidden behind a phalanx of guards. In Paris a giant banner was hung from the Eiffel Tower showing the five Olympic rings as handcuffs, another adorned Notre Dame cathedral. Police again made several arrests. President Nicolas Sarkozy called the parade “a bit sad”. It is becoming worse than that: an embarrassment to both China and to the Olympic movement.
Olympic officials would now like to abandon the rest of the flame’s world tour, foreseeing that protests are likely to worsen. Already in San Francisco, where the parade continues on Wednesday, protesters have strung banners from the Golden Gate Bridge. Nastier and perhaps bloodier demonstrations might come elsewhere, for example when the flame reaches Delhi, in India, or possibly in Canberra, Australia.
China has the power to ease the unfolding public-relations disaster. One step would be to cancel the rest of the torch’s international tour. More substantial would be to scrap the parading of the torch in Tibet—something seen as intensively insensitive by Tibetans who consider China’s rule to be oppression by a foreign power. More substantial yet would be for China’s government to allow more democratic freedoms, including peaceful protests, in Tibet and elsewhere.
Instead China’s leaders, in public at least, perhaps not grasping how quickly dismay over the Olympics is growing, are refusing to bend. The Beijing-backed governor of Tibet, Qiangba Puncog, has said that the torch will still be brought to Tibet and has given warning that any who try to obstruct its progress face “severe” punishment.
The official media have portrayed the disruptions in London and Paris as marginal displays of discontent by violent activists amid overwhelming shows of support. A state television report aired a brief comment by Paula Radcliffe, a British marathon runner, in which she endorsed the importance of the protesters’ cause while condemning their methods. The Chinese subtitle, however, mistranslated her remarks such that the endorsement was removed. The sinister torch-protection team has been called “valiant and heroic” by China’s media. Official reports say the squad is composed of officers from the People’s Armed Police who have been training for this role since last August.
The problem for China, however, is that public protests could grow in the coming weeks and lead to boycotts of the games themselves—or at least of the opening ceremony. Hillary Clinton, a Democratic contender for the presidency in America, now says that George Bush should stay away. Mr Sarkozy says he will wait to decide whether to travel. Growing public anger, stoked by protests along the torch’s route, could make the Olympics a bigger trial for China’s government than it had bargained for.
