The critics of the International Olympic Committee's decision to award the 2008 summer games to Beijing are worried that the decision may enhance the legitimacy of the repressive Communist Party government, leading it to accelerate its policy of military modernization and territorial expansion. The 1936 Berlin games and the subsequent launching of World War II by Germany is often cited in this connection. Opti-mists, on the other hand, cite the 1988 Seoul games and the positive effect it had in moving South Korea towards greater pluralism. China will be put under a microscope and, the optimists say, will have no choice but to improve its human rights record. These two views appear to conflict, but actually they may not.
China could improve its hu-man rights record sufficiently to ward off any possible boycott of the 2008 Olympics, and yet at the same time exploit the prestige and commercial gains brought by the Games to further its goal of becoming a wealthy nation with a powerful military.
The international community has adopted a rather lenient standard in judging China's human-rights practices. The US government expresses its appreciation when Beijing convicts and expels a US academic on trumped-up charges of espionage, forgetting that China should not have seized the scholar in the first place. The world tends to close its eyes to the plight of the several million prisoners languishing in labor camps. The incarcerated include many dissidents and religious practitioners. While Slobodan Milosevic faces trial at the International Criminal Court at the Hague for ethnic cleansing committed by the Serbs in Kosovo, few people have paid attention to the 1.25 million Tibe-tans who have perished over the years under China's relentless campaign of genocide.
The reasons for the double standard are obvious. China is a rising regional power. There are no easy means of pressuring China to respect the civil rights of its citizens or minorities. Also, business interests from all corners of the globe have been seduced by the prospects of profits in the Chinese market. It is not hard to understand why trade has been delinked from human rights.
Many observers both in the US and Taiwan believe that awarding the Olympics to China will result in seven years of peace in the Taiwan Strait. This is a very foolhardy assumption. China has sufficient manpower and resour-ces to conduct the Games and launch a successful blitzkrieg against Taiwan. A complacent and feckless Taiwan government which fails to prepare the armed forces and its citizens for a PLA invasion could well invite such a disaster. The Olympics certainly give China an ideal weapon with which to undermine the confidence and self-identity of the people of Taiwan.
For Beijing, politics and sports are inseparable. Since the 1970s, it has spared no effort to undercut Taiwan's international status in connection with its participation in the Olympics. Now that China has been awarded the Games, Beijing will no doubt use various tactics to make Taiwan a province of China in the eyes of the world. The pro-unification media, the opposition parties and even thoughtless DPP members and government officials are already dancing to Beijing's seductive tune of "Chinese" national pride.
Taipei should refrain from using any words or committing any deeds which could be perceived by the international community as further eroding Tai-wan's de facto sovereignty. Certain elements of Taiwan's media are eager to break into China's market. Businessmen want a chance to profit from the infrastructure projects for the Beijing games. Taipei should ask these businesses to show restraint and respect for Taiwan's territorial integrity.
The sports committee of the Executive Yuan and Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Taiwan must insist on its own flag and national anthem. Tai-wan's athletes must understand that they represent democratic Taiwan, a separate country which is not ruled by the PRC. The athletes must uphold the dignity of the 23 million people of Taiwan. The government needs to act quickly to stem the tide of the destructive "China fever." It is high time Taiwan stood up.
Li Thian-hok is a freelance commentator based in Pennsylvania.
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