| China Waves the Flag |
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| Written by Correspondents around the Region | |
| Sunday, 04 May 2008 | |
|
As the
Olympic torch makes its way across Asia it raises fears of Chinese
chauvinism
The large and unruly demonstrations with which pro-Tibet and assorted other demonstrators greeted the torch in London, Paris and elsewhere have not happened here. But many in Asia have been dismayed at what is regarded more as a manifestation of Chinese triumphalism than a symbol of the international brotherhood of sport. Sympathy that China might have gained in Asia from the overtly anti-China sentiments and hypocritical moralizing in the West were more than nullified by what happened on the ground.
The relay has not only been given far more publicity than prior to any previous Olympics but China has made the attendance of certain foreign political leaders a litmus test of “friendship.” The opening ceremonies of the two previous Olympics, in Athens and Sydney, were showy but lacked any overt political content and were certainly not “must attend” occasions for presidents and prime ministers.
In India, one the largest-ever security operations was needed to protect the torch, and even then the route had to be shortened. India never wins many medals at the Olympics and so is expected to be further irritated with China’s crowing about its success when the games finally begin in August. Meanwhile India is being further infuriated by Beijing’s decision to take the torch to the top of Mount Everest, which Delhi regards as a symbol of its control of Tibet.
The distinguished foreign affairs columnist Brahma Chellaney wrote in the The Times of India that this was a publicity stunt which “will only infuse more politics into the games already tainted by the manner China’s pressure helped turn the just-concluded international torch relay into a stage-managed security exercise everywhere to pander to its self-esteem at the cost of the Olympic spirit of openness.”
In South Korea, where there is normally scant innate hostility to China, the thuggish behavior of thousands of Chinese students appalled a population for whom the right to dissent and protest are now deeply ingrained. Television footage showed the Chinese “patriotic” students attacking Koreans demonstrating against the oppression in Tibet and China’s forced repatriation of North Korean refugees. This comes at a time when, despite close economic ties, Koreans are smarting at Beijing’s efforts to incorporate Korean history into their own. There were also clashes in Japan between Chinese students and local protesters and elsewhere in Asia there was little celebration. Thailand delivered massive police protection and threats of deportation should Tibetan exiles cause trouble. Indonesia kept the whole torch ceremony private.
In fitting contrast to events in Seoul and elsewhere in Asia, the torch had a trouble-free passage in North Korea, almost the only place where it did. Vietnam rounded up known anti-China voices before the torch’s arrival and the government’s tight political grip ensured that there was no trouble. However, China’s games aggrandizement did remind many Vietnamese not only of historical enmity but of China’s current claims to the Spratly islands and to seabed resources off the coast of Vietnam. Some saw the local torch-bearers as unpatriotic by furthering Chinese interests.
China’s banging of the nationalist drum was also conspicuous in Hong Kong, providing a contrast between the territory’s autonomous identity with Beijing’s use of the games to stimulate patriotic One-Country fervor at the expense of the Two-Systems status which has enabled the territory to enjoy separate representation at the Olympics.
Not content with welcoming the torch as a symbol of international sport, the government and a clutch of “patriotic” organizations insisted on identifying the torch relay with red, the color of the national flag created by the Communist party when it came to power. Citizens were urged to wear red on the day of the relay and millions of red patriotic stickers were distributed. Government workers were “encouraged” to wear red and to attend.
In the event, the majority of Hong Kong people seemed to be cool to the whole affair. While wishing the Olympics well, few seemed inclined to join the celebrations. Random samples of people in the streets suggested that fewer than than 10 percent followed the “wear red” advice and many of those had been given T-shirts or stickers by employers seeking to be seen to be “patriotic”.
The cheering crowds which greeted the torch at various locations were composed largely of children let out of school for the occasion and provided with flags to wave. In addition there was an influx of putonghua-speaking mainlanders who waved huge patriotic banners along the torch route. Pro-Beijing political figures and members of the business elite were heavily represented among the torch bearers, with sportsmen taking a minority role and opposition politicians being excluded altogether.
The future of Hong Kong’s representation at the games may also have been brought into question by the criteria for membership of the Hong Kong team. Only Chinese nationals are eligible, rather than by birth or residence, the criteria for representation at many other sports and used by other dependent-territory Olympic teams. If Hong Kong’s tens of thousands of locally-born Indians, Filipinos and others are to be excluded while Chinese nationals who have lived there only a short time are chosen, it may be well to ask why Hong Kong is given separate status from China. Some see the current criteria as overt racism disguised as legitimate nationalism.
Overall, the torch relay seems to have awakened Asian sensibilities to China’s rise in a way that no statistics or speeches could have done. Pride at Asian success and the opportunities for trade an investment that China offers may have peaked, and the Olympic torch appears to have become more a symbol of China’s power than of international brotherhood.
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(38)
 written by bushwhacker , May 11, 2008
It is evident to me that the ethnic Tibetans are living a heavenly lives as compared to the ethnic minorities in the mighty USA e.g. the Indians in the reservations, Black in Louisiana etc. Their beautiful villas are about among the best dwellings in China or even the world.
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 written by Can this sink in? , May 11, 2008
Tibetans appreciate modern lifestyle, as well as autonomy.
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 written by Xiaonan , May 10, 2008
Ha! Ha! Ha! The Tibetans living outside of China now want to go home. They have been living in cesspools outside China and as 3rd class citizens; absolutely going no where. They know and can see for themselves the higher standard of living amongst Chinese Tibetans in China. The Chinese authority provides their brethren in Tibet clean water, equality (as opposed to slavery, freedom of worship, proper education in the Tibetan and the national language, employment, dignity, infrastructure, financial assistance from the state coffers. They see a future for themselves and their children to return to. But who are the genuine ones and who are someone else's proxies? Nobody can tell.
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 written by smoking dragon , May 10, 2008
Tibetans want liberation after 60 years. Liberation from what and from whom? Free to go back to the life of their forefathers? Like living in the stone age with absolutely no trace of human/self development at all? The ones outside Tibet are aggitated by the people they live with. They do not realise that under the Chinese government, they are allowed out to make something for themselves. If they were locked in like their forefathers, nobody would even know they were there. Tibet was the last unknown. An anachronism of feudalism cum stoneage culture. By the way, Tibet is historically and culturally part of China. That was why nobody complained 60 years ago. They probably laughed loudly, thinking the Chinese have got to feed and look a bunch of stoneage theocrats.
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written by Typical chauvinism , May 10, 2008
Chauvinists are right. Everyone else is wrong.
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".. : Year of the rats
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Tibetans are also nationalistic. This time, they want to liberate themselves." All u suggesting that we all play this game. By the same token, malicious external powers, can instigate & support secessionist groups in Punjab, Nagaland, Assam, Kashmir, Sikkim, etc., in India or the IRA and Scots in Britain? and except for homogeneous Japan theoretically this can be done to all multi-racial states. The Moslems are unlikely to let up on their bombings when the opportunities in the Western cities so long as they are see themselves deprived and discriminated by the infidels, right? To "Another anti-Chinese conspiracy : smoking dragon". Check this (proof) out (not Chinese propaganda) - http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56145?PHPSESSID=amdq1a1bdtlp9fst39n6epsab0 report abuse
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written by Year of the rats , May 10, 2008
Tibetans are also nationalistic.
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This time, they want to liberate themselves. report abuse
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 written by smoking dragon , May 09, 2008
All these protestations are so coordinated that it is obvious it has been planned for many years, probably by US,UK and its puppy dogs. It is not spontaneous and the Tibet issue is just a distraction. Do your readers really believe that Tibet is a free democracy? It was one of the worst feudalistic countries in the world where your own correspondent described as "near stone age feudalistic theocracy". Tibetans should be grateful that they were "liberated" by the Chinese. No one objected then. Why? Because Tibet was in the stone age and of no economic value to China. Now of course it is just a means to an end. Now Tibetans can leave the country and live in USA, Europe, India, etc. Why don't you ask these Tibetan protesters what kind of lives their forefathers lived? As for the display of nationalism by the Chinese, what's wrong with it? What's wrong with American natinalism, Indian natinalism, Irish nationalism, Intalian natinalism etc. It's what you can make propaganda out of it. It is good propadanda to be antiChinese so you make an issue out of it. I suppose the author would like to see the Chinese broken up into multiple groups. One good thing came out of this inteference of the Torch relay. It rallied the Chinese all over the world and made them realise who the real enemies of the Chinese are. It is not Chinese chauvinism but American and European colonistic pretensions that is threatening the world. They have shown the world what they really are. Intolerant and derisive of 3rd world countries who are just trying to develop and take their rightful place in the world. The author should bear this in mind when he next puts pen to paper.
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Yes. We get it, Mr Uncouth. Feeding opium is like giving milk powder to the Chinese and carving territories is like renting people's private space with bullets. Shooting Iraqis is saving them from Osama. Then, the bombings in London must be firing crackers to celebrating that others have arrived as well.
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Any fool will know that Chauvinism is a form of nationalism.
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Surely any fool can see Nationalism from Chauvinism. But we don't blame the writer as he has his own political agenda. In fact, all Chinese ethnic groups are taking park in the torch run, from the Chinese Tibetans to the Chinese Uigurs. For all the West has done and is doing to try and divide & rule China again, retribution (divine law of nature) is coming to visit them. The fervor and rise of Scottish nationalism is across the horizon. If you had watched the last Hardtalk over BBC you have understood the message coming from oil-rich Scotland to be independent not taking orders from London, England! Another IRA in the making? Good luck Britain for all the good deeds you have done to the innocent and defenceless natives across the world over the decades.
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 written by wei jing sheng , May 08, 2008
yeah...it's everyone else's fault...the Vietnamese, the Koreans and very nation in the West had a big meeting and decided to hassle China.
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Hold the Olympics in Iraq or Israel where you could hold waterboarding championships, checkpoint sprints, IED dodging, SA-14 Strella relay races, pole vaults at the foot of the Abu Ghraib walls -- the possibilities are endless.
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Lighten up folks! report abuse
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 written by OT , May 06, 2008
Here's a thought. I think the torch relay could be spinned/perceived/declared as a great success and we should have one for every future Olympics (I am so asking for a flamming here).
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It allows the airing of everybody's dirty laundry and not just the host nation's as a form of release akin to alcoholic annonymous, but at an international scale. It promotes dialogue both good and bad between the peoples thereby creating greater understanding, self-reflection and self-analysis to bring people closer together (hopefully, fingers crossed). It can also create pressure and impetus to resolve unsolved issues that have been festering. So if the Olympics are inevitably political anyway, might as well go the whole hog and use it to lance the world's boils (loverly imagery there). Besides, just because it was invented by Hitler/Nazi Germany dosen't mean we can't put it to good use, otherwise we would also have to abandon the motorways, the jet/rocket engine and ban all Indians/buddhists from using the swastika. Rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater we should reclaim them for a "better purpose". So after London (remember the Chagos Islands etc), we should petition the IOC to award the games to either Israel, America (for Iraq if it still goes on), Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, France (for its role in Africa), or Saudi Arabia, unless anybody else have other candidates. report abuse
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written by Fcuk Qina , May 06, 2008
The only farce is the torch relay.
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written by OT , May 06, 2008
This is so funny that its becoming a comical farce.
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GO!! EVERYBODY GO!! ahhhh....where to??? The world is only that big... and at the rate we are all going there might not even be one left...soonish report abuse
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written by Crouching Lion, Slaying Dragon , May 06, 2008
Go Tibet!
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 written by Go China Go , May 06, 2008
Vietnam, a small beast tucked right under our belly, only able to achieve its cherished unification with our unreserved helps, in terms of manpower, materials & most of all as a giant safe-heaven hinterland (where their guerillas could retreat for their R & R (rest & recreation) away from hot pursue from the US forces). The Vietnamese are the most ungrateful of all old comrades-in-arm, naively thiking that they could actually have won the War all by themselves; & Chinese worldwide have not forgot & forgave them for their atrocities committed against their ethnic Vietnamese Chinese citizens by artificially creating the sorry episodes of the tragic "boat people" exodus. This score will be fully accounted for at any appropriate time at our picking. Vietnam does not deserve to be a sovereign state & it should revert back to its traditional role of a vassal state at the worst or a Chinese province at the best option. Our biggest mistake was helping Vietnam to achieve unification under a pro Soviet leadership & this bitter lesson will be well learned in our dealing with S.Korea.
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Similarly, S.Koreans are displaying the same weird behaviour. A people without its authentic indigenous culture & language (all its cultures & language are copied from China), a small land mass/tiny population sandwiched between 2 giant neighbours, its economy with a technological level still lagging far behind Japan while being fast caught up by technologically lesser nations like China, Taiwan, S'pore etc... you can imagine its anxiety & pressure to find its niche in the global competition! Again, we would very much wish it will revert back to its traditional role of a vassal or province of China. India, a nation which seems to relentlessly marvel at the role of forever measuring up to China. Its biggest flaw is its self consumption by the purportedly ( some say a deliberate hype by the West) superiority of its "democratic" Westminster model (which exactly seems to bog down most development/reform projects) & its so-called mastery of the colonial English language (reflecting a serious lack of internal cohesion due to absence of an unique, uniting indigenous language). These are just some of our strange bedfellows that keep us spinning our heads in bewilderment. With these neighbours, who would need any more friends/foes? report abuse
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written by Free Asia , May 06, 2008
Ugly Chinese resorting to ugly language.
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 written by Bushwhacker , May 06, 2008
The vast majority of Asians welcome China rise as a counter-weight to the aggressive West. They understand that the West s**t-stirring of the Tibet and Olympics issues/ Of course, there will always be the odd Indian, Japanese, Korean ane even Chinese with axe to grind against the Rise of China.
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written by Anti-CNN , May 06, 2008
Here comes the Chinese chauvinists!
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written by Go China Go! , May 06, 2008
This piece is an utterly wantan, dirty, unabashed propaganda s**t freshly cooked right out of the CIA/neocon/extreme evangelical (those who have lots of grievances to grind against the CCP) oven & it will do untold editorial damage to the intellectual integrity of Asia Sentinel. I have bothered to count not less than 10 totally blatant, unsubstantiated insinuations/allegations against the factual accounts which we can actually see for ourselves with our own naked eyes on TVs & other media. The most serious being that there was a only less than 10% enthusiatic crowd cheering at the sacred Torch & even those participating were merely out there because they were "seduced" by some free goodies or they were simply school children forced out there in exchange for the boredom of the classroom. How dare "these various correspondents" spread such naked lies! The evidences on the day could not have been more different ~ there were spontaneous outpourings of pride & patriotism as Chinese nationals & the air of carnivalism was genuine!
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This is the worst piece of journalism I have ever read on this platform & I am totally ashamed of its editorial board who has somehow strayed from genuine journalistic integrity to plain & ugly politiking! There is a current popular sarcastic Chinese catch phrase "don't be too CNN" & it should now be read as "just don't be too AsiaSentinel". Shame on these "various correspondents" (perhaps they know intuitively that they are spewing lies that they dare not put up their specific names)! report abuse
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written by Prism , May 06, 2008
Eastern Sea??? What Eastern Sea???? I thought everybody knows that its call the South China Sea. Besides, I thought Vietnam was part of China, so obviously by extension those islands claim by Vietnam must also be part of China. Heh, Heh, Heh (evil laugh and chuckles).
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 written by Tony Le , May 05, 2008
For months and months, the Olympic torch relay route showed Paracel Islands enlarged and boxed off on the map as Chinese territories. Vietnamese people all over the world have been protesting this blatant move by China to politicize the Olympics by using it to make illegal claims on territories that it stole from Vietnam. A Vietnamese torch bearer, Le Minh Phieu, even wrote to the IOC President about the matter. No response ever came from the IOC or Beijing in response to these protests.
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Finally, right before the final leg of the torch relay was to take place in Saigon on April 29th, suddenly, we notice that on the relay map on the Olympic website, the Paracel Islands have been removed completely. (see http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/journey/map/ ). The decision by Beijing to remove the Islands from its relay route map may be interpreted in two ways. The first explanation is that Beijing finally gives in to the demands of the Vietnamese people because it understands that it has violated Olympic rules by using the sports festival to make claims on Vietnamese territories. But we are not too naive to think that Beijing would have a change of heart so easily. The second interpretation is more plausible. Vietnamese who have been calling for protests cite the route map as a primary reason for such an action. Thereforre, if Beijing removes the map, then there would be no reason for protest. This action is meant to neutralize the antagonistic feelings that Vietnamese have towards Beijing and would in effect "pull the rug out from under them". In addition, Saigon is the last leg of the international part of the relay. All these months, people of the world have already looked at the map and have already seen the islands. They have already been persuaded that these islands legitimately belonged to China. Now that the torch comes to Saigon, the job of the map is essentially done. Removal of the islands does not hurt China in the least. This is not the first time that Beijing resorts to this kind of cheap conciliatory trick to appease the Vietnamese public opinion. Last year, when hundreds of Vietnamese students protested in front of Chinese missions in Hanoi and Saigon over Beijing's establishment of Sansha to govern the Spratly and Paracel Islands, China chastised Vietnam for allowing such protests to occur. Afterward, a local official in Hainan was quoted in the South China Post as saying that he knew of no plan to establish Sansha. It is amazing how an official could not know of a plan that had been approved by the Chinese central government itself. But this was the kind of trick that Beijing used to quell anger directed to its plans to annex Vietnamese land and waters. Fortunately, Vietnamese people are not so naive as to fall for such cheap and dirty tricks by Beijing. Removal of the map itself does not mean that China will not continue to find all kinds of means to control Vietnam's Eastern Sea and the islands in it. And this Vietnamese would not be surprised in the least if immediately after the torch leaves Saigon, the relay map returns to the way it was before. report abuse
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 written by Janman , May 05, 2008
@nanheyangrouchuan
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Watch your mouth before you opened it. Get your mind of your dung. The obstruction of the Olympic Torch Run had nothing to do with China and the Chinese people. If you view it very objectively, it's actually hughly successful with tens of thousands assembling on the streets in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia. If the West isn't happy over China's internal affair, they can always organize another forum such as UN, to debate over it. The world (included some in the West itself) is justified to feel indignant at the retarded act (and immoral) by the West. And that honor of being desperate violators include you, nanheyangrouchuan as well. report abuse
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China would never had received the Olympics without influence from MNCs leaning on the IOC and the numerous goodies that the IOC receives from China and China thinks it "earned" the Olympics. Add to that a sense of self-entitlement while untold millions languish in forced labor camps in China and abroad (many Chinese laborers in Africa are actually slave labor according to African human rights observers).
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I agree that the world torch run should be canceled for London in 2012, let dirty China wear the infamous crown of the nation that ruined the Olympics in the name of ultra-nationalism and racial superiority. report abuse
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 written by Blair , May 05, 2008
Let's drop the Olympic torch relay for London 2012.
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 written by D Nicol , May 05, 2008
I both support autonomy for Tibet, and deplore the politicization of the torch relay. China has gone overboard to turn this event into the most nationalistic relay since the "tradition" of the torch relay was ccreated in 1936 by Adolf Hitler. Judging by the reports from Chinese media, the relay is mostly about "Chinese pride" and very little about the "Olympic spirit". Having a phalanx of muscular Chinese security men surrounded the torch along every step of the route does little to dispel this image. This has played into the hands of protestors, who have then killed any remaining "Olympic spirit" in the event. What's the end result? Resentment on the part of Chinese people and the torch relay host countries, and a sour taste on everyone's part.
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The torch has nothing whatsoever to do with athletics or the games. It's nothing more than a publicity stunt even in the best of years. But, like many publicity stunts, it can badly backfire, as we're now seeing. It's time we dropped Hitler's Olympic torch relay. report abuse
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written by OT , May 05, 2008
The Chinese people historically have overthrown more of its own governments than you can shake a stick at. Has anybody in the West and its media bothered to realise that maybe, just maybe the Chinese people on average ACTUALLY support the Chinese governments' policies on many issues.
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Frankly I rather have a domestically insecure authoritarian government that is sensitive to public opinion than a democratically elected one that pretty much ignores or pays superficial lip service to public opinion once elected and then rolls out the party political marketing machine comes next presidential election. People and the media are such brainwashed suckers for the marketing hype. report abuse
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 written by Bangkokian , May 05, 2008
Free Nations,
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It is not about communism and democracy in this case. I personally don't like the CCP either. But this is about irrational Anti-Chinese sentiment, directed at the whole Chinese nations. The Chinese Government's action in Tibet was strictly confined to the Tibetan area, which is in China's territory. But the media reporting went way far beyond it as if Tibet were Iraq or Afghanistan by mixing the pictures of violence outside China to mislead their western audiences. Followed by unfriendly and irrational reactions from western leaders. Who provoked whom? report abuse
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 written by Free Nations , May 04, 2008
People of the world have a lot against the Chinese government, or any other government that thinks it has a right to oppress its people into submission. Communist China is wrong, deadly wrong. As we Americans and all peoples of the free world believe, governments are an institute created to serve man, not to oppress them. They are made to allow men to enjoy their rights, not to take them away. Governments are institutes created by men, not by tyrants like communist China.
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The Message to China: Anti-Beijing Olympics Activism is More Than a Cry for Dead Victims. We are not against the Chinese people. We are against communist China. Free the people. Free Vietnam. Free Tibet. Free China. report abuse
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Jeez, what spin! No "Free Tibet" protests in Hong Kong? No problem! Just write it so it sounds like anybody cheering the Torch was practically ordered to do it by the government.
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You know, rather than "Shoot first, ask questions later", the Chinese overwhelmingly feel way more at home with "I won't harm you unless you harm me first." What haven't we heard? First Darfur was China's fault. Then it was how China supported Mynamar. Now it's been Tibet. Now we have an interesting new SARS-like epidemic in Anhui spreading south. Another series of articles are also only starting to kick in about the terrorism. Coincidence? Jungian synchronicity? Or phased planning? Well the Chinese believe in luck and Jung's following here is awfully small, but there does seem to be a pattern, so they're cheesed off. And as nosy and gossipy as folks can be here, they don't meddle or foist unasked-for advice on people: family is sacred and dirty linen stays inside the home. They feel they are at home, with a natural right to do their thing, their way in their own time. On May Day, Carrefour hypermarkets nationwaide tried adding a little fat to the fire by countering the one-day boycott with a special 50% sale on everything. Some fools wanted to go in and smash up some shelves but the police stepped in. Now Carrefour management says the boycott is fizzling. No vandalism. No beaten Westerners with photogenic blood all over their faces. So if you can't paint up the Chinese as rabidly anti-Western, well I guess this article has to settle for coming down on them over "triumphalism" and imposing "litmus tests" of "friendship" on foreign leaders. And gee, be sure to point out how only 10% of folks wore red as if Chinese aren't enthusiastic about the Games. Actually, people don't brag here. Have you ever heard China get "triumphalistic" over having the world's biggest railway? Well, 4,000,000 pax a day ain't bad but I did read a thing about China and the UK arguing over who had the world's _smallest_ nuclear arsenal. What I like most is the byline: "Correspondents Around the Region" -- I like the word "around" instead of "in", or the briefer "Regional Correspondents". Nobody wants to sign it? report abuse
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written by Janman , May 04, 2008
Headline Hong Kong, "Tens of thousands of Hong Kongese turned up to support and celebrate the Beijing Olympic Torch Run. On the other side, less than 100 people will protesting".
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This headline is not peculiar to Hong Kong only but in all other cities other than the so-called "civilised' western cities of Paris, London and San Francisco. Now what did those "fair" and ugly Western media report - "Protests in Hong Kong". "Disruption in Sydney", "Torch run marred by protests", "World anger for Olympic Torch Run", "Flame of shame". Either the Western Media think that the world is stupid for not knowing the truth, or they themselves are far more stupid than they actually know. The later is plainly more acceptable by the rest of the world. It seems that the West is losing credibility as times passed by. report abuse
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 written by JH , May 04, 2008
The Beijing Olympics were politicized from the moment that the Chinese Government pledged to improve the human rights situation should Beijing be awarded the Games. Political isn't necessarily a dirty word, but by placing the Olympics as a sort of high point of China's reform and opening up, and making commitments on human rights issues, it seems unavoidable that the Games would become a political football- China's leaders should hardly complain now.
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written by Overseas Tiger , May 04, 2008
In Korea, the Korean demonstrators were equally violent and unruly, but like everywhere else the Korean media too took a selective narrative. As for N Korean refugees, if South Koreans are so darn compassionate about it then China should let the N. Koreans in, provided they survive Kim's goons, then ship them all to S. Korea and bill the S. Korean government and taxpayers for the costs.
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It may sound cruel on an individual basis, but frankly S. Koreans should be grateful to China for keeping the flow of N. Korean refugees mangeable and easier for S. Korea to absorb. Open the floodgate and see S. Koreans moan/complain about their comfy lifestyle being disrupted by a new "solidairty tax" like the West German government imposed on West Germans after the fall of East Germany. Maybe by that time the S. Koreans will be too busy to complain about China as they suffer under heavier taxes and higher unemployment. Seems like the virus of selective narrative is slowly infecting Asia Sentinel too or is this just the editors' way of increasing "footfalls" by posting controlversial and bias reporting on China so as too sell more advertising. Pull back before you loose your readership's confidence in your so far reasonably fair and balanced objectivity. If people outside of China insists on seeing China as an enemy then the chances are that China will become an enemy. China bashers and the media really should grow up. You are not in high school anymore. report abuse
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written by Bangkokian , May 04, 2008
I agree with the first comment as to who first provoked whom.
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I am a 3rd generation Chinese, born in Thailand. At first I had not been interested in the torch relay at all. Until Anti-Chinese, in 'human right' disguise, mobs erupted in London, followed by many western leaders' boycott of the Games opening ceremony. It is clearly a PREMEDITATED, COORDINATED, and MANAGED PROVOCATION with the aim to hold back China's reputation. But Chinese overseas also feel the impact. If China and Chinese around the world didn't react, surely these Anti-Chinese would mount their attack. So China and Chinese reacted, now they said oh....that is a scary and appalling Chinese Chauvinism. So we must keep Evil China in check? What did you expect Chinese to do? Damned if we do, damned if we don't! China and Chinese did not start this game. report abuse
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 written by realist , May 04, 2008
If the French president believe that Tibet should be independent, then he should allow the Basque region to be independent too.
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Otherwise, someone should launch a fund to collect money to fund the Basque separatist in France, so that they get the freedom from Paris. Similarly, we should also launch a fund to help the American Indians buy back their land from the US Governement so that they can have their own land and country. report abuse
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 written by Test , May 04, 2008
It is not China who is politicizing the Games.
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First, renegade Tibetans took the opportunity, knowing full well the spotlight would be on China in 2008. Then, the West, i.e. characters like France's Sarkozy, linked attendance of the Games to human rights issues. China would have wanted nothing more than for the rest of the world to join in the celebrations (The Olympics are about sport ONLY) However, various parties took the opportunity, hoping that the Chinese govt. would overeact. (Thankfully, the Chinese govt. did not, ANYONE WITH THE RIGHT MIND WOULD AGREE THAT THEY HANDLED THE LHASA RIOTS WITH VELVET GLOVES) What have the protesters been protesting about anyway? In the West, it was "human rights issue" In India, it was Tibet In Japan, there were the right-wingers (Does Asia Sentinel wish to associate with them?) In Malaysia, it was the Falun Gong NONE of the above have anything to do with sports do they? So who's provoking whom? report abuse
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To the
surprise and irritation of the Beijing government, China is finding
that the Olympic torch relay has been a propaganda failure not just
in the west but in much of Asia as well.
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