Despite the excitement surrounding the Beijing Olympics and the splendor of the opening ceremony, not everything at the Games is quite as it seems.
The little girl seen singing the theme song Ode to the Motherland was in fact lip-synching, because the girl who really sang was deemed not pretty enough. The use of a stand-in to mouth the words was approved by the Communist Party’s Politburo.
When the switch was exposed, government officials ordered a news blackout and had all online reports of it deleted.
Then it was revealed that the TV footage of “giant footprints” over Beijing, seemingly created with fireworks, had been fabricated by computer animation. Even the duet by pianist Lang Lang (郎朗) and a little girl was apparently contrived, since the lid of the grand piano was not even open.
The tricks used at the opening ceremony are not the only part of the Beijing Olympics where appearance is far removed from reality.
The host country did all it could to present itself in the best possible light, sweeping anything that might spoil the view or dampen the spirits under the carpet and suppressing anything and anyone that would not play along.
What the world saw was the greatest investment ever made in physical construction for any Olympic Games. With government leaders from more than 60 countries in attendance, the opening ceremony was indeed spectacular, but the extravaganza was achieved by police state methods.
More than 1 million Beijing residents, migrant workers and petitioners have been forcibly moved or expelled to make way for the Games. Factories in Beijing and surrounding areas have been ordered to suspend or cut production to improve the city’s air quality. Authorities have stepped up monitoring and harassment of dissidents and other unofficial groups.
The great Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn said that totalitarian rule is founded on a framework of violence and falsification.
The more China’s rulers try to show off the country’s image as a military power, the more clearly its totalitarian nature, based on violence and falsification, is visible to all. The Beijing Olympics have been like a mirror, reflecting China’s darker side.
Only fools, the over-excited and those with an ax to grind could fail to see through the sleight of hand. The Olympics’ wart-revealing effect has been all the more obvious with regard to Taiwan. Taiwanese competitors and fans are banned from using their national title, displaying their national flag and singing their national anthem.
Of the more than 200 competing countries, only Taiwan suffers such indignities.
Attending the opening ceremony as invited guests, the current and former chairmen of Taiwan’s ruling party found it acceptable for the Taiwanese team to enter the stadium according to the character zhong (中), meaning China, alongside the “Hong Kong, China” team.
Seeing the title “Chinese Taipei” as a friendly gesture from the other side, the party leaders even declared that Taiwanese athletes enjoyed the “home advantage” in Beijing.
As Mencius said: “What the superior loves, his inferiors will be found to love exceedingly,” and so we have seen other politicians of a similar hue posing as “Chinese ethnic minorities,” applauding China when it harassed and insulted a Taiwanese fan on her way to Beijing, using the Games to bang the drums for unification, and other such buffoonery.
While the mirror of the Olympics reveals the true face of the politicians who are now in charge of Taiwan, forgetting their own status and genuflecting to China at any opportunity, the question is whether Taiwanese are aware and vigilant enough to see what the mirror shows.
When broadcasting Olympic events, some Taiwanese TV stations have cut away for news or commercial breaks at key moments, putting profits above the rights of the viewer. Some broadcasters do not even seem to understand the sports they are covering.
The Taiwanese media’s greedy and conceited attitude is nothing new, but the Beijing Olympics have brought their failings into focus once again.
Lu Shih-hsiang is an adviser to the Taipei Times.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
RSS