China should use Olympics to prove its critics wrong
If the will to win were all that mattered, then China would deserve Friday's decision by the International Olympic Committee to allow it to host the 2008 Olympic games. The country is in the midst of a dramatic economic transformation and a revival of athleticism that gave it third place in the medal table at the last Olympics in Sydney, an event China was desperate to stage until pipped at the post by Australia. But the will to win is not all that matters.
China's appalling record on human rights should have disqualified it from hosting this or any other Olympics until it has put its house in order. China hinted when it bid last time that if successful it would open up to the world -- and human rights and democracy would follow naturally. Well, since then the country has opened up to trade and tourism, but there has been precious little progress on human rights.
China remains fiercely intolerant of internal dissent, of free religious observation and of free access to the internet. Its continuing repression in Tibet and its persecution of sects like the Falun Gong, its press censorship and its judicial abuses are all solid reasons for denying it the prize of hosting an event like the Olympics, which symbolizes ideals like free association and community as well as athletic prowess.
Supporters of China have always argued that increased freedom will be a response to, not a precondition, for hosting the Olympics. Under this scenario, increased exposure to the west during the Olympic games will hasten embryonic moves towards democratization in China. We hope they are right because, so far, neither the chance of getting the Olympics nor China's burning ambition to join the World Trade Organization has had much discernible effect on attitudes towards human rights at home. Now is China's chance to take a fresh and unexpected initiative. It should use the opportunity and publicity afforded by the Olympic games to prove all its critics wrong.
-- Guardian News Service, London