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EDITORIAL: The sweet sound of 'no comment'

Two months after French President Nicolas Sarkozy oversaw US$30 billion in business deals with China on a three-day visit, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived in Beijing and announced: "I want Britain to be the first location for Chinese investment -- in Europe and in the rest of the world."

Brown's visit could have been a replay of Sarkozy's trip, with business and the environment filling the agenda.

And like Sarkozy, Brown stepped up to bat and achieved much the same result -- a collection of economic wins for his team and virtual silence on the lack of freedoms in China.

Europe is cultivating a fine tradition of snuggling up to the Chinese god of fortune. A notable exception is German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has shown herself willing to rile Beijing with straight talk on human rights. This, despite the fact that her country is the biggest EU exporter to China.

Brown has made no secret of his interest in Chinese opportunities. He showed up backed by 25 of the British business world's top names, including Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson. He courted China's sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp and called for 100 more Chinese firms to invest in the UK within two years.

But in the field of human rights, he was hardly as ambitious, touching only cautiously on Darfur and Myanmar. These were no doubt wise choices to avoid spoiling China's generous mood. They are much less sensitive for Beijing than any number of sore spots causing unrest within the country's borders that topped international concerns over the last year. Thus, Brown could walk away from his trip without having completely ignored China's critics.

But then, while visiting Renmin University of China in Beijing, Brown said of the upcoming Olympics: "I know that the preparations have been wonderful and successful and I know that China will win many medals."

Brown must have a very loose definition of success. His praise was a slap in the face for the thousands who have been evicted from their homes without compensation to make room for Olympic facilities and for the thousands reportedly detained for protesting.

And with the summer Games only months away, Beijing authorities last month asked residents to avoid going outdoors because of dangerously high pollution levels. Gone are the ambitious dreams of blue Beijing skies in time for August.

Not that authorities haven't tried to deal with this chronic problem. But even if they have reduced pollution from some sources, other pollutants in the city have increased.

Beijing has worked itself into a lather over pulling off the perfect Games.

But in its eagerness, many "improvements" have been less than impressive.

Despite the warnings of experts, Beijing has rerouted water from nearby provinces with serious shortages to make sure taps don't run dry when 2.5 million international guests and journalists show up on its doorstep. And many factories have only closed temporarily or been moved farther from the capital ahead of the event.

Beijing seems more concerned about the judgment of 2.5 million Olympic visitors than the welfare of its people and the effects of the Olympics on their homes and utilities.

So what does Brown think of that? No comment.
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