I am so pleased that our freedom loving president has decided to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing, China. I’m sure he is relieved that he doesn’t have to pretend to care about those wild ass Tibetan monks and nuns who just a short while ago were being slaughtered in the streets of Lhasa. After all, if CNN isn’t paying attention, why should he?
We are, after all, into our “Let’s not be beastly to the Chinese” mode this month – despite Beijing’s utter refusal to seriously assist the world in stopping the slaughter in Darfur where they hold sway with the government and continue to supply them arms. The same could be said for most hot spots in the world today where China has chosen – shall we say – a more “pragmatic” approach to international diplomacy. In other words, if the solution would harm Chinese economic interests, better to be a Sabot than pragmatist.
From Iran, to the Congo, to Burma – where western countries tried unsuccessfully to enter and alleviate the horrific suffering caused by the typhoon that hit Burma on May 2 – China has seen fit to block, impede, ignore, and otherwise discombobulate efforts to resolve these problems and protect the peace or save lives.
This is the reality of living with a China that is beginning to flex its muscles on the world stage. Quiescent for 600 years, China is back with a vengeance and while cooperating in a very limited sphere of priorities, the Dragon prefers to go its own way. It is procuring oil deals in the Middle East, trade deals in South America, and beginning to dominate its neighbors in East Asia economically.
And part of this muscle flexing – a very large psychological part – is hosting the Summer Olympics. As much a confidence booster for its own people as it is a showcase for foreigners (who they still see as barbarians), the Games are an announcement that China is back and that she is about to start kicking butt and take names in the international arena. The powers that be on the International Olympic Committee who handed the Chinese this propaganda coup – fabulously wealthy, old monied European dilettantes and obscure royalty – are playing with forces they neither know nor care little about. The Chinese government dangled billions in front of their eyes and that was enough. To hell with human rights said the IOC lickspittles.
True to form, the Chinese recently cracked down on Tibetans who have a slightly different idea about who should be running their country and it does not include the Chinese army and paramilitary units who routinely whack people they consider troublemakers. The death toll from the riots during last March’s uprising was around 55 we are told. What was never announced were the number of people – monks included – dragged out of their houses in the middle of the night and simply “disappeared” in the old fashioned Stalinist tradition. Word trickled out that entire monasteries were emptied and the monks beaten and shot. Some of the more prominent human rights activists are under house arrest or in some Tibetan dungeon somewhere.
But since the New York Times, the Washington Post, and even Keith Olbermann seems to have mislaid their outrage over this blatant violation of common decency and the UN Charter on Human Rights, our brave Sir President feels it now safe to kow-tow to the Chinese and pretend as if “Tibet” is just a place name on a map:
US President George W Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the White House says.Human rights groups and opposition politicians including presidential hopeful Barack Obama had urged Mr Bush to consider boycotting the ceremony.
Beijing’s rights record has come under intense scrutiny since Tibetan protests were suppressed in March.
Troops used force to quell the biggest anti-China demonstrations in Tibetan communities for two decades.
Beijing says rioters killed about 20 people in the unrest, but exiled Tibetan groups accuse security forces of killing scores of protesters.
Even Obama supports a boycott of the opening ceremonies – today. Where he might come down tomorrow on the subject is a different kettle of fish. But for the moment, the messiah is four square in favor of making this small, yet telling statement about what America thinks of the Chinese bully boys cracking down on Tibetans.
But not our George. His compassionate conservative answer to critics?
“He believes he’s going to China to support first and foremost our athletes. He sees this as a sporting competition,” she said.
How touching. Does this make world leaders who intend to boycott the ceremonies hard hearted monsters who don’t support their nation’s athletes?
Some world leaders are missing the 8 August opening ceremony.Germany’s Angela Merkel is not attending the Olympics. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will be in Beijing for the closing ceremony only.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy says his attendance depends on progress in dialogue between Beijing and the Tibetan government-in-exile.
Those talks are going about as well as can be expected – which is to say not well at all. This probably means that Sarkozy will join Brown and Merkel in insulting their athletes by missing the opening of the games.
There are those, such as James Joyner, who don’t care much one way or the other:
I don’t feel strongly either way about this issue. My preference would have been not to award China the Olympics, given not only their abysmal human rights record but also the ridiculous level of pollution in Beijing which puts the health of the athletes in danger. Boycotting the opening ceremonies would embarrass the Chinese government and send a message, I suppose, although it would likely just increase their intransigence and make them less cooperative.What strikes me as interesting in all this is that Bush has rather clearly, in his second term, become much more cognizant that symbolic gestures and rhetoric have an impact beyond the domestic audience. A boycott would likely play well at home, since both the Left and the Right are united in their distaste for the PRC government, albeit for different reasons. But China is the key player in Asia and their cooperation is essential in addressing many issues of strategic concern to the United States in that region. Thinking through the consequences of thumbing our noses at them, therefore, is important.
Joyner’s assessment of the problem of “thumbing our noses” at the Chinese is dubious in my mind. We are, after all, talking about a small gesture that if the Chinese do indeed get their nose all bent out of shape because of it, only prove themselves to be unworthy of any approbation for having “come so far” as a nation. His analysis also fails to assess the damage caused by our not standing up for human rights and Tibet.
If the Chinese are so paranoid and sensitive about anything marring their precious games (they murdered hundreds of thousands of cats and dogs to “clean up” Beijing), perhaps they should address the reality of Tibet rather than trying to sweep it under the rug – something Joyner inadvertently is encouraging them to do. Bush or no Bush, the news nets are not going to ignore Tibet or the boycott by the Big Three in Europe. Ergo, Bush will be seen as the weak sister in the face of Chinese pressure to conform, to get with the program, and celebrate China’s coming out party.
A small thing? I think not. The symbolism of Bush attending the opening ceremonies will not help us in the slightest despite Jim’s hopeful outlook and as the only major western leader in attendance will give unwanted legitimacy to a government whose own people are suffering under a Communist tyranny. I wonder what the Chinese dissidents – those few not in jail at the moment – are thinking about Bush’s decision?
The fact is, because Tibet and Chinese domestic politics is largely ignored at the moment by the press, Bush feels safe in making his announcement. Out of sight and out of mind.
And for the Tibetans, out of luck as well.
12:47 pm
I don’t see any reason to make Tibet a major focus of American foreign policy is all. China’s cooperation in such things as resolving the North Korea nuclear standoff strikes me as much more important to the United States than their treatment of a domestic group.
3:12 pm
[...] by courtesy or grammar. The following is in response to the decision by our president to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing this summer. From Iran, to the Congo, to Burma – where western countries tried unsuccessfully to enter and [...]
8:25 pm
I have lived and worked in China teaching at the university level for the past year and a half. I speak Chinese (trained by the USAF many years ago) and have been married to an ethnic Chinese (American citizen) for over thirty years. Having stated by credentials, what are yours? When do you believe the MSM and when do you not believe it? There are two sides to every issue. Suggest you try to find the Chinese side to balance your opinion in what you write.
Do not forget that there was legal slavery in Tibet in the 1950s and the feudal system was very much real and alive there prior to the Chinese “liberation.” I use the term “liberation” here on purpose because that is exactly what happened.
I am no liberal but I am honest and realistic. I am no spokesperson for the Chinese government but I do have Chinese students who would find your comments to be both insulting and wrong. BTW, these are real students who are in pursuit of the same truth that every college student is pursuing.
I read your blog daily so do not dismiss me as an apologist for China. Every country makes mistakes and the Tibet situation was huge, playing into the situation that those who fomented it wanted. No excuse for this evil stupidity but Tibet – suggest you do more research on the actual situation there and not believe people like Richard Guere and others who hug themselves and say – oh, how awful it is to be able to NOT BE A SLAVE under the ruling monks.
7:17 am
Do you ever wonder if large portions of our “press” is actually corrupt?
I mean, do they take money and favors to choose “news”?
Twenty years ago I never would have believed such a thing…...now, I just don’t know.
11:42 am
Since the Chinese have been in possession of Tibet for some sixty years, and no one is inclined to do anything more than harrumph about it, I hardly think that any symbolic protests about it are going to do anything at all. I really don’t know what you expect from the President, unless you think that insulting the Chinese for no discernible gain is preferable to not embarrassing them when we could use their cooperation in a region, where, as you say, they are actively throwing around their weight.
As Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton showed us, appeals to emotion get us nothing in terms of respect or cooperation. These other leaders aren’t looked to for actual, you know, leadership, of anything but their own backyards. They can afford to engage in silly posturing. We can’t.
11:57 am
An interesting point is that no sitting US president has attended the opening ceremonies when it has been held outside the USA. Remember how Dubya send his dad into Athens 4 years ago? Obviously, there is no real reason for our President to go, Tibet crisis or not. The fact that he is attending suggests a political ploy rather than China deserving his presence on August 8th. However, if we can get something out of the Chinese government for this, then I am all for it. As much as I am unhappy with our President, this is not something to get worked up over.
Thank you Cecil Hill for your observations; it is quite true that there is much more to the story than “China wrong, Tibet right”. Actually, I am quite willing to support the Chinese government over their sovereignty, except that they are being total assholes when it comes to the Tibetan people. One could take your point about asking your Chinese students, and inquiring if you have any Tibetan students who could be asked about Rick’s comments. (Somehow, I think they would agree with him.) These people are not grateful for the Chinese presence, even if destroying the feudal system was in their interests. The communist party is intent on ignoring that fact, in which case the world can expect the mess to continue. Tibet can never be free in any sense of the word, until China is free. Judging by the events of this past March and April, that day is not coming soon.
5:29 pm
Kevin is, in fact, a student from Tibet who is a personal friend and I have played basketball with many Tibetan students. We also have many other minority students whom I have gotten to know and love.
What would you believe, Surabaya Stew, and what would you not believe if I told you what their opinions were? If their beliefs matched yours, then obviously I am not lying. If their beliefs did not match yours, then obviously I am lying. Once more, reading the MSM gives absolutely no clue about the attitudes of Chinese in China.
What is the truth in Tibet? I have yet to visit there but plan to in the near future. Many times our preconceptions prevent us from seeing truth as it really is. Truth, I seek but truth is often covered by many layers of my own personal biases.
BTW, the Tibetan students would disagree with Rick in his most negative statements but would probably agree that theirs is not the most viable economic group in China.
7:38 pm
“We are, after all, talking about a small gesture that if the Chinese do indeed get their nose all bent out of shape because of it, only prove themselves to be unworthy of any approbation for having “come so far” as a nation.”
Wow. That just sounds weird (or dare I say it, liberal?).
What does it matter whether the Chinese are “worthy” of our respect—the better question is: What can we gain by insulting them?
My guess: We gained something more by not insulting them. We gained North Korea’s big step forward in the nuclear negotiations.
8:03 pm
Typical G. W. Bush. Doesn’t understand the situation, offers a boneheaded solution and ignores those who might have a different, more useful opinion. But he is still light years ahead of the IOC, the most corrupt “governing” body of sports on the planet. This multi-billion dollar con game needs to be eliminated. The Olympics are the dirty end of the patriotic stick. Ginning up national pride then levying massive entry fees for host countries and participant nations with a majority of sporting events that most people would not walk across the street to see for free if not wrapped in national and Olympic flags. A pox on their house.
8:29 pm
Some people believe that the PRC is friendly toward the USA. These same people argued that the former USSR wasn’t a threat to the USA.
Some people never learn.
12:00 am
Thank you for replying to my comment, Cecil Hill. It’s good to hear that some students in China are getting what is obviously a very fine education from you. It is obvious that you care very much about all of them, and we should all respect that. Truthfully, I have not been to China, with the exceptions of Hong Kong and Macau, so I do not question that you have a better sense of what the average Chinese thinks than the MSN does.
Actually, I do have an inkling of what the average Chinese-American thinks about Tibet, and it’s not too different from the average mainland opinion! “Fuck em’ all, those ungrateful bastards!” seems to sum it up, I’m afraid. Just like the Tibet-heads can’t get around the fact that Tibet belongs to China and any hope for independence are foolish beyond belief, the average Chinese anywhere in the world can’t seem to grasp that the Red Army has treated the Tibetans like shit since 1959 and they resent the Han settlers very much. Moderation seems to be lacking in all quarters…
Of course, I am betting on the fact that the members of ethnic minorities in China who come to your school might not be representative of the average non-Han Chinese citizen. A trip to the Tibetan-majority areas (not just Tibet proper), sounds like an excellent opportunity to get closer to the truth. As I can see from your blog, you are already having quite an excellent time getting around China right now. I look forward to reading more about your travels!
5:41 am
I think you would have been much more accurate if you had stated “the Red Army has treated the Tibetans (and other minorities) like shit from 1959 to (research the date when they realized their mistake) xxxx and those who remember resent these Han no accounts.
I say specific inclusive dates because I have met several older people who were treated like shit but then recently things have changed. One guy in Kunming (Pete) approached me and quoted perfectly the Gettysburg Address and then the Preamble to the Constitution of the US. He was 83 years old and had been forced to work in the coal minds near Kunming for over 40 years. The reason – too much English from his friends the Flying Tigers.
The government had recently taken him to Beijing and apologized for the past action and rewarded him with a nice pension and health care. Talk about a man full of history!
This seems to be the current government policy – acknowledging past “sins” and working to help the minorities. Hey, it is good business as well because millions of Chinese travel around China in search of minority culture. Look at LiJiang and Shangri-La if you doubt what I am writing. Billions poured into these “disney-like” creations for the local minorities (Naxi in Lijiang and Tibetans in Shangri-La). I see it happening everywhere I travel. The latest was to XiJiang Miao village in Guizhou Province. The government is not stupid now (meaning they were back then!).