Beijing Olympics: In Defense of China, Part Two

I began my last post with a story about my visit to Moscow and Beijing in early 1980. During this trip I was informed that the United States had decided to boycott the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow because of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, My how things change over time; I read recently that the current Russian government is assisting the U.S. in transporting military supplies to support our invasion of Afghanistan.

I'd like to begin this post with a couple of quotes from Wikipedia's entry for the People's Republic of China:

"Since 1978,China's market-based economic reforms have helped lift over 400 million Chinese out of poverty, bringing down the poverty rate from 53% of population in 1981 to 8% by 2001.

China argues "that the notion of human rights should take into account a country's present level of economic development, and focus more on the people's rights to subsistence and development in poorer countries."

It seems to me that the underlying problem in the West's view of China is that we neither understand nor respect the tremendous strides that this country and its citizens have made over the past thirty years in enhancing the lives of its people.

Who are we to say that if China had offered more 'freedom' to its peoples that it would not have experienced

• The civil wars of the former Yugoslavia;
• The genocide of Rwanda; and/or
• The takeover of Iran by fanatical fundamentalists

A stable prosperous China has brought the West a long period of economic prosperity fueled largely by hard working Chinese wage-earners and entrepreneurs.

In a country as large and diverse as China, stability is valued more highly than the right to protest. People who have seen their children grow in health, wealth and education realize that such progress requires a strong governmental infrastructure. The proof of this is in the fact that if open elections were held today the current government in China would undoubtedly win an overwhelming majority of the vote.

The Chinese people have great pride in their long heritage and their current successes. The 2008 Olympics were meant to celebrate Chinese history and modern achievements. There is no question in my mind that these Olympics would also have heralded greater comfort for the Chinese in the international community where they have not always felt welcome.

I think that the American multinational companies who are holding firm on their sponsorship of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing are wise, whatever their motivations. AT&T, Coca-Cola,Visa International, McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, anheuser-Busch, Bank of America, Home Depot and United Parcel certainly recognize the importance of China to their businesses. Similarly, I think it's inevitable that China will ultimately recognize the alignment of its own interests with global public opinion.

Comments

[mvellandi]

Positive change always starts from within, not from the outside. China will become a great nation, though never without ills as NO country is perfect. I don't think it's fair either to form an opinion of another country until one either has been there or has learned something from ultra-objective, non-biased, multi-perspective investigative journalism. This is very difficult to find nowadays.

To better understand the Chinese way of thinking, I will be reading up on Confucian philosophy this year. Pure-Land Buddhism is a good start, but only 1/3 of the way. Next (for me) comes history.

Thanks for publishing a healthy divergent view Gene.

[Dong]

I enjoyed reading both post very much. If you can understand how "face" works in chinese culture, you can pretty much understand half the things we do.

I would think that the poverty rate is higher than 8% based on my experience living there and going back there for vacation. Chinese people do have great pride but the majority of the ones that I've met in my experience have an ethnocentric pride instead of having an attitude towards solidarity.

People in China are still very close minded, and I think that it is because of the controlled media and social environment. It's pretty shocking to see college aged kids who think something like AIDS can only happen to non-chinese people which was my experience in China.

But besides all that, I think the positive outweighs the negative greatly. The 2008 Olympics will be a symbol for the changing world powers shifting from west to east.

[GENE DEWITT]

Dong,
Thanks for your thoughtful comments. I think the world needs to respect the pride and integrity of the Chinese people and look beyond the government of today. China is evolving and we all should do whatever we can to shape this evolution in a positive and constructive manner.
Gene

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