Leader
Fair Game?
In 100 days' time, China's Olympics will be under way,
but people from film stars to football coaches are not
happy.
Owen Amos gives five reasons to boycott
Beijing - and three reasons not to
DARFUR
WHEN Steven Spielberg complains, you
know you're in trouble. Spielberg, director
of ET, Jurassic Park, and Schindler's List
among others, was due to be artistic advisor for the
Beijing Olympics. However, he pulled out in February,
citing China's role in the humanitarian disaster
in Darfur, Sudan. "I find that my conscience
will not allow me to continue business as usual," he said.
The Sudanese government supports one side,
largely Arab, in a civil war against another side,
largely non-Arab. The UN says up to 400,000 people
have been killed by violence and disease and Colin
Powell, then US Secretary of State, said genocide
had taken place.
Since 1993, China has been a net oil importer. It
buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil, helping to prop up
that regime. In turn, Sudan buys its weapons from
China. A Council on Foreign Relations report said
China supplied Sudan with small arms, anti-personnel
mines, howitzers, tanks and helicopters.
China says "political means" should solve the
issue. Spielberg says: "Sudan's government bears
the bulk of the responsibility but the international
community, and particularly China, should
be doing more."
TIBET
WHO owns Tibet? Tibet has been part of China
since the 13th Century, the Chinese government
says. Some Tibetans disagree. They claim Tibet declared
itself independent in 1912, after Chinese
troops there surrendered. On October 7, 1950, China
invaded Tibet, forcing a surrender 12 days later. The
17-Point Agreement, signed by China and Tibet in
1951, confirmed Tibet as part of "the motherland".
However, after a failed uprising in 1959, the Dalai
Lama repudiated the 17-Point Agreement and fled
to India to form the Tibetan Government in Exile.
The Dalai Lama does not object to Chinese rule, but
demands far greater autonomy.
In March this year, Buddhist monks marched to
commemorate the 49th anniversary of the uprising.
Security forces arrested some marchers, prompting
more anti-China protests - this time about economic
conditions and Chinese immigrants, as well
as independence. Some protestors were shot. The
Government in Exile says at least 99 people have
died in the Chinese crackdown. Towns were sealed
off and foreign journalists banned from entering.
The lockdown sparked sympathy protests worldwide.
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of
Representatives, said: "If freedom-loving people
throughout the world do not speak out against
China and the Chinese in Tibet, we have lost all
moral authority to speak out on human rights."
POLLUTION
CHINA overtook the US last year as the biggest producer
of carbon dioxide, pumping out around 6,200
million tonnes - more than ten times that of the UK.
Last year, a British government climate change official
said China builds two coal power stations a
week. The subsequent smog around Beijing has
caused several athletes to change their plans.
Haile Gebrselassie, the marathon world record
holder, is unlikely to run the race due to pollution's
threat to his asthma. "It would be difficult for me
to run 42km in my current condition," he said. Tennis
player Justine Henin has voiced similar fears.
The British Olympic Association spent up to
£30,000 developing an anti-smog mask, but recently
revealed it is not sure it works. Speaking about
smog, Marco Cardinale, of the British Olympic Association,
said: "It is very unlikely we'll see outstanding
performances in endurance sports".
HUMAN RIGHTS
IN 2001, the Beijing Olympic bid said giving China
the games would "help the development of human
rights". According to an Amnesty International report,
the Chinese record shows "little sign of improving".
Abuses and alleged abuses are widespread.
China executed 470 people in 2007, more than any
country in the world. But, according to Amnesty International,
the actual figure is in the thousands.
More than 60 crimes carry the death penalty, including
tax fraud and stealing VAT receipts. The
number of official executions, though, is falling.
There is little freedom of religion in China.
Roman Catholicism is officially banned and Christians
must worship with one of two state-approved
churches. Last Christmas, a BBC reporter in Beijing
wrote: "At an underground church service in
China, you pray as quickly as you can - and hope
the police do not come running in." Falun Gong - a
spiritual practice of meditation that has a reported
70 million followers - was banned in 1999, apart
from in Hong Kong and Macau. Followers are routinely
arrested.
China has had a one-child policy since 1979, designed
to ease pressure on infrastructure by limiting
the burgeoning population. The government
says it has prevented 400 million births; Chen
Guangcheng, a blind activist, was jailed last year
for exposing forced abortions.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
CHINA has enforced a mass block on some websites
- dubbed "the Great Firewall of China". The BBC's
English language site was unblocked last month,
causing Chinese hits to rise from 100 a day to 16,000.
The Chinese language site has been blocked since
its launch in 1999. During the Tibet unrest, the
Times and Guardian websites and YouTube were
blocked.
Journalists at the national broadcaster, CCTV,
are told how to report stories, and what not to report.
In the past six months, journalists were
warned off a health scandal and told how to report
Benazir Bhutto's death. Reporters Without Borders,
the press freedom organisation, claims 30
journalists are currently detained by Chinese
forces.
Zhao Yan, a New York Times researcher in China,
was tried in 2006 for fraud and divulging state secrets.
He was acquitted of the latter charge, but
jailed for three years for the former. Journalist
Huang Jinqiu was arrested in September 2003 after
revealing plans to form a new political party. He
was sentenced to 12 years in prison for "subversion"
- a catch-all term used to try thousands of Chinese
dissidents - and, according to Amnesty International,
has suffered beatings and sleep deprivation.
THREE REASONS NOT TO BOYCOTT
FAIRNESS: China was elected to host the
Olympics by the 196 members of the
International Olympics Committee. That
democratic decision should be upheld.
SPORT: The Olympics is about sport, not politics.
To force boycotts would mean athletes' four-year
preparations count for nothing.
CHINESE PEOPLE: The Chinese population has
been anticipating hosting the world's biggest
event for seven years. To punish 1.3 billion people
for their leaders' mistakes would be unfair.
10:02am Thursday 1st May 2008
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CommentPosted by: Thomas, Sunderland on 1:58pm Thu 1 May 08
I'm not going to criticise the author of this article as obviously most of the media has been been saying the same things for months and people believe its true. I've actually researched China's development and history at University so have a different outlook. The mainstream Western media is extremely biased and has been demonising China for political purposes. This is hypocritical and it isn't about human rights it is a blatent attempt by Western governments to break China up. China buys oil from Sudan but doesn't control the governemnt there. The US sells weapons to the rebels to maintain instability because they want China out so they can take their place. How many people know that Tibet was a cruel feudal theocracy in which 95% of the population were slaves and punishment included eyes being gouged out, tongues cut out, hands cut off etc. The Dalai Lama himself had 2000 slaves. The Dalai Lama and his government in exile don't care about human rights they just want their power back. The Chinese freed the slaves. The media hasn't been interviewing Tibetans in Tibet who want to remain part of China. There have been protests by Tibetans from the Dorje Shugden sect to stop the lies and to not free Tibet. The Dorje Shugden sect have been persecuted by the Dalai Lama i India and have been beaten, had their homes smashed up and have recieved death threats. These events has been ignored by the mainstream Western media and whitewashed over by amnesty international too. Aditionally the Dalai Lama and most of the free Tibet movement are funded by the CIA and NED. The CIA admitted that they funded the Dalai Lama and supplied his resistance fighters with weapons up until 1974. The most serious human rights issues in the world right now are genocide in the Congo (the USA and UK are supplying the weapons) and Iraq, Afganistan and the next victim Iran. China is starting to clean its act up on pollution but its a developing country so it will take time. The gratest consumer of world resources and the most responsible for the highest levels of CO2 emmissions is the USA. China does execute the most people (if you ignore Iraq and other wars) but it has the largest population. Because it has the largest population it had to have a one child policy and if it had not then it would have caused a catastrophy. China is already having difficulty growing enough food and suppling enough water for its growing population. Incidently the one child policy does not extend to ethnic minorities such as Tibetans who are allowed three children. Ethnic minorities have increased from 2% of the population in 1950 to 8% now. Although China does control its media, the Western world control theirs to an equal extent. The CIA does it by buying and owning media companies through front organisations and MI5 have controlled the UK media by recruiting key media figures. This isn't such a secret as there is actually specific legislation that a member of MI5 cannot reveal the identity of another member who is an MP or a journalist. So freedom of speech is just as much an issue for us as it is for the Chinese. Politics should be kept out of the Olympics and the USA, Germany, France the UK and any other countries that are trying to demonise China should be looking at their own human rights issues instead of being such hypocrites.
I'm not going to criticise the author of this article as obviously most of the media has been been saying the same things for months and people believe its true. I've actually researched China's development and history at University so have a different outlook. The mainstream Western media is extremely biased and has been demonising China for political purposes. This is hypocritical and it isn't about human rights it is a blatent attempt by Western governments to break China up. China buys oil from Sudan but doesn't control the governemnt there. The US sells weapons to the rebels to maintain instability because they want China out so they can take their place. How many people know that Tibet was a cruel feudal theocracy in which 95% of the population were slaves and punishment included eyes being gouged out, tongues cut out, hands cut off etc. The Dalai Lama himself had 2000 slaves. The Dalai Lama and his government in exile don't care about human rights they just want their power back. The Chinese freed the slaves. The media hasn't been interviewing Tibetans in Tibet who want to remain part of China. There have been protests by Tibetans from the Dorje Shugden sect to stop the lies and to not free Tibet. The Dorje Shugden sect have been persecuted by the Dalai Lama i India and have been beaten, had their homes smashed up and have recieved death threats. These events has been ignored by the mainstream Western media and whitewashed over by amnesty international too. Aditionally the Dalai Lama and most of the free Tibet movement are funded by the CIA and NED. The CIA admitted that they funded the Dalai Lama and supplied his resistance fighters with weapons up until 1974. The most serious human rights issues in the world right now are genocide in the Congo (the USA and UK are supplying the weapons) and Iraq, Afganistan and the next victim Iran. China is starting to clean its act up on pollution but its a developing country so it will take time. The gratest consumer of world resources and the most responsible for the highest levels of CO2 emmissions is the USA. China does execute the most people (if you ignore Iraq and other wars) but it has the largest population. Because it has the largest population it had to have a one child policy and if it had not then it would have caused a catastrophy. China is already having difficulty growing enough food and suppling enough water for its growing population. Incidently the one child policy does not extend to ethnic minorities such as Tibetans who are allowed three children. Ethnic minorities have increased from 2% of the population in 1950 to 8% now. Although China does control its media, the Western world control theirs to an equal extent. The CIA does it by buying and owning media companies through front organisations and MI5 have controlled the UK media by recruiting key media figures. This isn't such a secret as there is actually specific legislation that a member of MI5 cannot reveal the identity of another member who is an MP or a journalist. So freedom of speech is just as much an issue for us as it is for the Chinese. Politics should be kept out of the Olympics and the USA, Germany, France the UK and any other countries that are trying to demonise China should be looking at their own human rights issues instead of being such hypocrites.
Posted by: Marie Beaulieu, Canada on 6:41am Fri 2 May 08
Demanding of the host country to abide by the Olympic Charter is not politics--it's just the right thing to do.
For a country to thrive on organ theft of spiritual Falun Gong adherents and still think that they can have a party in the other part of town is just sick. Even the Nazis didn't stoop that low.
Demanding of the host country to abide by the Olympic Charter is not politics--it's just the right thing to do.
For a country to thrive on organ theft of spiritual Falun Gong adherents and still think that they can have a party in the other part of town is just sick. Even the Nazis didn't stoop that low.
Posted by: Ivan, Chengdu, China on 3:03am Tue 6 May 08
My name is Ivan, I am a French and English teacher in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and for the time I have been living here I can't agree with what is said about freedom of religion for Chinese people. This article speaks about the christian faith with underground churches etc. I cannot speak for the whole of China but for the city of Chengdu and most of Sichuan, I can say that when the authorities find out about an underground church, they ask the pastors to register themselves and THEY DO NOT PREVENT THEM FROM MEETING AFTERWARDS. I would not be surprised if soon some statistics showing how many christian churches have been registered in China will be displayed.
I know by some friends, articles, human rights activists that in the past the situation for christians in China was much different. But guys, China knows that we entered in the 21st century and that it cannot be any longer accepted to force christians to recant or hide their faith in Christ. Again, I speak from Sichuan and I can't say about other places but here, young christians don't hide anymore their beliefs.
My name is Ivan, I am a French and English teacher in Chengdu, Sichuan, China and for the time I have been living here I can't agree with what is said about freedom of religion for Chinese people. This article speaks about the christian faith with underground churches etc. I cannot speak for the whole of China but for the city of Chengdu and most of Sichuan, I can say that when the authorities find out about an underground church, they ask the pastors to register themselves and THEY DO NOT PREVENT THEM FROM MEETING AFTERWARDS. I would not be surprised if soon some statistics showing how many christian churches have been registered in China will be displayed.
I know by some friends, articles, human rights activists that in the past the situation for christians in China was much different. But guys, China knows that we entered in the 21st century and that it cannot be any longer accepted to force christians to recant or hide their faith in Christ. Again, I speak from Sichuan and I can't say about other places but here, young christians don't hide anymore their beliefs.
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