Long before last Friday's International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting, Beijing's bid for the 2008 Games was being treated bizarrely in Taiwan. One might understand the motives -- while deploring the naivety of Chi Cheng (
It was, however, certainly the business of Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
And when Yuan Weimin (
However, the behavior since Beijing won its bid has been even more outrageous. Che Xiangdong (
This enthusiasm for Beijing's bid has been whip-ped up in part by cable TV news, which has been relentlessly upbeat about the subject, largely, as this newspaper reported on Monday, because of the hopes of TVBS and other stations of breaking into the Chinese market. But partly it is because the Taiwan government failed to take a firm and respon-sible line on Beijing's bid from the outset.
China, with one of the ugliest human rights records on the planet, is simply not an acceptable host for the Olympics. It is a simple message, it is a moral message. To argue against it needs either Pollyanna-ish faith that everything will get better or the tough argument that human rights should have nothing to do with the decision -- in blatant defiance not only of human decency but also of the Olympic Charter itself. It is the line that Taiwan should have taken from the outset and it is the line it should be taking now.
Instead all we get is the same flatulence about showing "goodwill," despite the fact that Beijing will have a large say in who is invited to the Games and under what auspices they come. Taiwan might well be faced with an ultimatum to accept the "one China" principle or stay away, making all these gestures of goodwill and support appear the pathetic drivel they really are. Since Taiwan's goodwill is never reciprocated and since Beijing wouldn't know goodwill and basic decency if it was hit in the face with them -- it is about time for some plain speaking. The Olympic Games issue should have been the ideal opportunity. But Taiwan didn't stand up.
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