China's Year???

I had mentioned some posts ago that 2008 would be China's year. It hosts the Beijing Olympics, and it promises to be a sporting gala unlike anything before. The olympic facilities are ultra-modern than ever before, architecturally more appealing and the economic growth is the talk of the world. However, cracks are starting to appear, and this time, it could be difficult for the chinese to hide dissent and other problems. This is the flip side of hosting the olympics, especially if it is a superpower nation.

The spark was set in Africa, but it has now spread to Tibet. China's econocratic involvement in Africa, where economic issues are something else and human rights are something else, make it a very volatile situation indeed. When atrocities are being committed in Darfur, the chinese prop up the government by giving aid. The same scenario is true in Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe is only surviving because of chinese help. The chinese need for minerals and other resources props up corrupt and brutal regimes in Africa, all for their economic growth.

Their inactivity in human rights abuses in Africa has led to many voices speaking out against Chinese policy. Steven Speilberg, and other activists from several human rights organizations and aid organizations, have openly condemned the chinese policy. They have boycotted the olympics, and are trying their best to spread awareness to the people.

If Africa is the spark, then the flames are felt in Tibet. In the website of the BBC today (14/03/2008, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7296837.stm), some deaths were reported in the demostrations by tibetian monks. This comes at a very uneasy time for the chinese, as Tibet is an issue, and it is this issue which the chinese want it under the wraps the most. The demonstrations have proceeded in such a way that it has the makings of another Tiannamen square, with less coverage.

My professor here says that the real challenge for China will be how they will handle 20,000 reporters who will cover the Olympics. His rationale is that the reporters will not only want to cover the olympics, but also events that the government might have hidden. Already, Reporters Sans Frontier(Reporters without Borders) have shown the olympic logo with handcuffs. They argue that the chinese authorities will try and curn any information damaging to the authorities.

China will face a real problem in managing this scenario, but at the same time, activist focus will shift to the Tibetian demonstrations, already on the boil. But, the world is so obssessed with China's rapid growth that they may tend to bypass these problems. It is afterall, the economic interests that the world is interested in, not in human rights. The olympics was designed to represent competition, but nowadays, it is becoming a mask to hide human rights abuses and economic inequality.