On the 8th of August the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will commence. And over the next seventeen days the games becomes the focus of the world’s attention. And as much as we’d like to think the focus will be on the athletes themselves and their pursuit of excellence. I somehow think this’ll be the furthest thing on the minds of many of those athletes competing as well as the viewing public from around the world.
The Olympic symbol and all that it entails.
Much has been made of the political unrest and the fact that China has been mistreating the citizens of Tibet and their support of the Sudanese government. Where in the region of Darfur in the western part of the country, there has been scenes of genocide and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives over the past decade.
The closing Olympic gala of the Athens Olympics in 2004. picture courtesy of msnnbc.com/olympics/athens2004
And though the feeling is that the Chinese government may well use this extravaganza as a propaganda exercise to show the world that it is finally opening up to the West. The thinking also is that the Chinese have much to hide in terms of reforms within the country itself. We’ve been told that the country is an oppressor of human rights and religious freedoms. Be that as it may it may well be no different than the troubles a fledgling democracy or a country that purports to espouse those ideals.
The main arena where the track and field events will be held and where the commencement of the Beijing Olympics will unfold. picture courtesy of videobeijing.com/olympics …………
China as a developing country with an astounding economy and immeasurable wealth will see the Olympics as the legitimacy that it seeks to finally become adept politically and diplomatically. Those concerns at this juncture aren’t going unnoticed to others around the world. And whilst there’s the feeling that the event was awarded to China by the IOC through backroom dealings and the wish of IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge. It remains to be seen as whether or not the controversies that are unfolding will subside once the event gets underway.
Tibetan Buddhist monks walk the streets in Xiahe close to the Labrang monastery in Tibet. One can clearly see that with the unrest the police keeps a watchful eye on any type of disturbance or unrest that’s created. picture courtesy of afp/getty images/ Mark Ralston ……………
China’s meddling and so called influence peddling in many ways is no different that than that of the so called diplomatic machinations that’s often carried out by countries in the West. However as the view of the country is that of a domain that still remains Communist in its ideology with some smattering of economic reforms. There’s still that mistrust of a nation that still keeps itself closed to an extent to the outside world. Even though there are now Western companies now sprouting up all over the major provinces of the country. Their interest are as varied as one would expect. Ranging from retail, to heavy industry , construction, automotive to manufacturing and finance. And though these companies have led to economic growth and wealth therein. The usual seeds of corruption have followed along with the calls for China to open its in internal markets to companies from the West. As well as the country now being called one the major environmental polluters on the planet because of its lack of controls on many of its industries.
A refugee camp in the Darfur region of Sudan. Sudan being an oil rich nation is one China’s major partners in terms of its oil imports. picture courtesy of johnfenzl.com/typepad/darfur/images …………
tophatal
tophatal
Alan Parkins
