When the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games is drawing near, we will hear more and more protests of this, that and what not. To many interest groups as well as individuals with set agenda this may be their golden opportunity to pick on China and gain international attention. In Hong Kong, we have witnessed the awkward performances of both Martin Lee Chu-ming and Anson Chan-Fang An-sang, and internationally, the more spectacular ones of Stephen Spielberg and Mia Farrow. Initially, China was quite upset, fearing that their advocacy might spark massive boycott of the Olympic Games, and losing face.
But from what we can gather now, international media was not that sympathetic to the protestors, and no country in the world has positively responded to their theatrics. In fact, both George W. Bush and Gordon Brown, chief leaders of the English speaking world, came forward to support the Olympic Games. I am sure without Stephen Spielberg’s so-called resignation from being the artistic adviser of the Olympic Games, a position which he never actually accepted in the first place, and definitely not because of Darfur, the US President did not have to do this. In fact, because of Spielberg’s protest, there are more people in the world now have heard of Darfur and the real plight of the people, and more objective reporting on how much China have actually helped them. It now transpires that the only crimes China have committed in Darfur were buying 60% Sudan’s oil export, building schools and roads, drilling water wells, and sending UN peace keeping forces. China might have to thank Spielberg et al for this world-class helpful and entertaining production.
As for the timid imitations by Martin Lee and Anson Chan, both have been immediately shouted down by the audience and claimed that their messages have been misunderstood. Misunderstood or not, if they are indeed true to what they believe, we would like to hear what they have to say about Palestine, Iraq, or Kosovo. Any politician wants to lose some popularity; this is a tested sure-fire recipe.
But for China bashers, both here and abroad, there will never be short of excuses. The point is, without the orchestration of the international media and the support of Western countries, all the nick picking will come to nothing, and certain will not deter the Beijing Olympics from being a success as China has have been working so hard to make it come about. Boycott? You can forget about it. Don’t waste your effort here. If you guys want to look for trouble, try some other time and some other place, not the Beijing Olympics.
As for China, we all know that it has a lot to improve on human rights, democratic development, environmental conservation, alleviation of income disparity, medical and health, education, housing, social security – the long list can go on and on. These are also the problems the Chinese Government openly admit, and are taking steps to remedy. But they will have nothing to do with the Olympic Games. China promised the world a green Olympics, but this does not mean that its environmental efforts will be confined to Beijing, nor will they be stopped after the Games. Like a growing child striving to walk on his own, sometimes when he falters, we should cheer him on instead of beating him up. After the mammoth achievement of the past thirty years, a massive across the board progress unprecedented in human history, China certainly deserves some cheers this summer.
The Beijing Olympic Games will open this summer on 08:08, 8-8-2008. With the Chinese lucky number 8 all in one place, this historic event is going to be auspicious. The gods will forbid all sabotage.





