|
2008 Beijing Olympics
[News] [Papers]
US Disappointed Olympics
Didn’t Open China More
(AP, Aug. 24, 2008) The United
States says it is disappointed the Olympics did not
bring more "openness and tolerance" in China
as the games ended and eight American activists were deported during closing
ceremonies.
China Urged to Free
Americans Held for Tibet Protests
(Reuters, Aug. 24, 2008) The United States has
pressed for the immediate release of eight Americans detained in Beijing for
staging pro-free Tibet protests during the Beijing Olympics.
Brown Urges China to Take on
World Role, Defends Olympic Visit By Mark Deen (Bloomberg, Aug. 22,
2008) U.K. Prime Minister Gordon
Brown will remind Chinese leaders about the need for them to play
a constructive role in maintaining peace in the world when he arrives in
Beijing today for the closing of the Olympic Games.
Bush Sharpens Public
Critique of China’s Idea of Freedom
(Washington
Post, Aug. 10, 2008) President Bush is stepping up his public criticism of
China's human rights practices, adopting a more confrontational posture than
he suggested he might take in the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games.
Opening Gala Wins Raves,
Raises Questions
(Reuters, Aug. 9, 2008) Audiences around the
world gave rave reviews to the Beijing Olympics opening extravaganza on
Saturday, but some questioned the heavy military theme and the show got a
decidedly mixed reaction from political rival Taiwan.
Amid Praise, Bush Continues
His Rebukes of China Upon His Arrival in Beijing (IHT, Aug. 8, 2008) President Bush rebuked China
over political and religious freedoms for a second day, though he tempered
his criticism with effusive praise for the country’s history and embraced its hosting of the Olympic Games.
China Eases Internet
Restrictions for Journalists
(NYT, Aug. 2, 2008) The Chinese authorities,
bowing to criticism from Olympic officials, foreign journalists and Western
political leaders, have lifted some of the restrictions that blocked Web
sites at the main press center for the Games.
Taiwan Officials to Attend
Beijing Olympics Games
(CNA, Jul. 28, 2008) The Cabinet-level Sports
Affairs Council announced yesterday that Minister Without Portfolio Ovid J.
L. Tzeng, SAC Minister Tai Hsia-ling
and Education Minister Cheng Jei-cheng will attend
the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games at the invitation of the International Olympic
Committee.
Taiwan Insists on ‘Chinese
Taipei’
(China Post, Jul. 25, 2008) Taiwan's national
team will withdraw from the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games if it’s title in
the event is changed into "Taipei, China" from the established name
of "Chinese Taipei" by Olympics authorities, a top sports affairs
official said yesterday.
Asia Soft Power Survey 2008 By Christopher Whitney and David Shambaugh (Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Jun. 2008) As China prepares
to host the 2008 Olympics and display the result of its great economic
progress to the world, the survey finds that in the estimation of most
Americans and many Asians, China still has a way to go to claim the world’s
full recognition as a multifaceted power.
China Calls for Halt in
'Radical' Anti-France Demonstrations
(AP, Apr. 23, 2008) With praise for the French president and appeals for
calm, China's leadership
signaled that it is ready to put an end to anti-France sentiment that has swept the country since the
chaotic Olympic torch
relay in Paris.
Protests of the West Spread in China
(New York Times, Apr. 21, 2008) Nationwide demonstrations against a French
supermarket chain spread on Sunday as thousands of people protested what they
said was France’s sympathy for
pro-Tibetan agitators. The protesters have also been singling out Western news
outlets, especially CNN, for what they said was biased coverage of unrest in Tibet.
China Urges Control of
'Patriotic Fervor' over Tibet
(AFP, Apr. 18, 2008) China has urged its people to contain their patriotism,
in the first sign Beijing may be
growing uncomfortable with a nationalist outburst over the Tibet issue that
it has tacitly supported.
China’s Top Paper Says
Olympics Shows Party Rule Works By Chris Buckley
(Reuters, Sep. 26, 2008) The United States' economic woes show the bankruptcy
of Western-style democracy while China's Olympic Games triumph shows the
growing "superiority" of its Communist Party rule, China's top
newspaper said.
The Olympics Party is over.
Now China Has to Clean up By Isabel Hilton
(Guardian, Sep. 10, 2008) The full legacy of the extraordinary events of 2008 in the People's
Republic of China
will take many years to emerge, but in the short term, a number of pressing
problems are clear.
China’s Rulers Look to Space
to Maintain Olympic Pride
(AFP, Sep. 9, 2008) China's rulers are looking to
catapult overflowing pride and patriotism from the Beijing Olympics into
another stratosphere when the nation's first "taikonaut"
walks in space this month.
Greatest
Games Ever or Potemkin Village? By Victor Cha
(PacNet #44, Pacific Forum,
CSIS, Sep. 2008) The Olympics was China’s announcement to the world
that it is a global power. But with this prestige comes global
responsibilities in foreign policy and in domestic human rights.
China’s Olympic Run—Part II By Pallavi Aiyar
(YaleGlobal, Aug. 29,
2008) Without the Games and their prestige to drive home the necessity of
“harmony” at any cost, China’s ruling party will have to confront its
greatest Achilles heel – its inability to admit to the existence of real
diversity and dissent – head on.
Where Next for Post-Games
China? By Michael Bristow
(BBC, Aug. 28, 2008) The Olympics in Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul
in 1988 both marked turning points in the development of Japan and South Korea. Many hope it will be
the same for Beijing.
China’s Olympic Run—Part I By Mary Kay Magistad
(YaleGlobal, Aug. 27,
2008) China’s leaders are caught between conflicting instincts – to play to
both audiences, to trumpet China’s rise as a formidable power, while trying
to reassure the world of its friendly, non-threatening nature.
China Wins Plaudits for
Olympics, but Criticized over Rights
(AFP, Aug. 26, 2008) China
won global plaudits Monday for staging a successful Olympics, but rights
groups were critical and the United States
said Beijing
had missed an opportunity to improve its global human rights image.
Where China Goes Next? By Simon Elegant
(Time, Aug. 25, 2008) What now for China?
Will party hardliners, emboldened by the world's timid response to their
brutal pre-Games crackdown on dissent, continue to tighten their grip on
power? Or will the spirit of volunteerism and community that arose after the
May earthquake in Sichuan
be revived?
China Lauds Games as Show of
Confidence By Chris Buckley
(Reuters, Aug. 25, 2008) The Beijing Olympics
will leave China
a more confident and open nation, the country's state-run media said on
Monday.
A Victory for China By Edward Cody
(Washington Post, Aug. 25, 2008) The 2008 Games
seemed likely to go down as a political as well as an athletic victory for China,
reinforcing the image of party leaders as adroit managers of the world's
largest nation on a double-step march toward greater prosperity.
After Glow of Games, What
Next for China? By Jim Yardley
(New York Times, Aug. 24, 2008) A new,
post-Olympic era has begun. The question now is whether a deepening
self-confidence arising from the Olympic experience will lead China
to further its engagement with the world and pursue deeper political reform.
Post-Games China to Refocus
on Economy, Stability By Benjamin Kang Lim
(Reuters, Aug. 24, 2008) China's
leaders will breath a sigh of relief as the Beijing
Olympics close, turning their attention back on the economy, keen to prevent
any slowdown and possible unrest.
China’s Tour de Force By Geoffrey York
(Globe and Mail, Aug. 23, 2008) One key question
is how the party will choose to use this nationalism. What will it do with
this massive pride in China's
gold medals, this sense of victory for the party itself?
Will the Olympics Boost
China Human Rights? By Bruce Einhorn and Lawrence
Delevingne (BusinessWeek, Aug. 22, 2008) Many were hoping a new
openness would emerge as the mainland took center stage, but most experts
agree the Games won't change much.
Games Behind Bars
(Editorial, Washington
Post, Aug. 22, 2008) With harsh treatment of two elderly women seeking to
protest, China
wins a gold medal for repression.
Behind the Scenes By Sally Jenkins
(Washington Post, Aug. 21, 2008) As a reminder,
consider the name Hu Jia.
There are actually two famous Hu Jias in this country, one a renowned gold medalist in
diving, and the other a jailed dissident. Between them, they tell the full
story of these Olympics.
Did China Bend to Critics
before Olympics? Not Much By John Chalmers (Reuters,
Aug. 15, 2008) What price did China
really pay for its day in the sun? In foreign policy terms, not much.
The Drums of Change By Harold Meyerson
(Washington
Post, Aug. 13, 2008) On or about last Friday, the world changed. With two
very different coming-out parties -- the opening ceremonies of the Olympics
and the invasion of Georgia.
In China, Bush Juggles
Sports and Diplomacy By Calum MacLeod
(USA
Today, Aug. 11, 2008) Bush’s mere
presence in the Chinese capital was a gift to Beijing, said analysts, and meant its
communist leaders could condone the criticism Bush offered.
For Many Expatriates,
Olympics Signal China’s Arrival By Erik Eckholm (NYT, Aug. 10, 2008) As mainland Chinese greeted the Beijing
Olympics with exuberant pride, so, too, have Chinese-Americans, who have
often been divided over how to deal with the Communists or the future of
Taiwan, but who share a sense that China has taken a long-awaited place on
the world stage.
One World, One Dream: China
is in the Olympic Games to Win By Charles Moore (Telegraph,
Aug. 9, 2008) Looking at yesterday's astonishing scroll of Chinese glories
rolled out on the floor of the Bird's Nest stadium, one sees, once again, a
political purpose.
China Leaders Try to Impress
and Reassure World By Jim Yardley
(NYT, Aug. 8, 2008) If the astonishing opening
ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games lavished grand tribute on Chinese
civilization and sought to stir an ancient nation’s pride, there was also a
message for an uncertain outside world: Do not worry. We mean no harm.
For China, It’s Showtime By Edward Cody
(Washington
Post, Aug. 8, 2008) The 29th Olympiad in Beijing has from the beginning been a
political as well as an athletic event. The competitor with the most at stake
is China's
Communist Party, particularly President Hu Jintao and the eight others on the Politburo's elite
Standing Committee who rule this vast nation of 1.3 billion people.
Beijing’s Game
(Editorial, Washington
Post, Aug. 8, 2008) Wonderful as it may be, this quadrennial spectacle comes
at a price. It's the intangible cost that these two weeks of Olympian
international comity will exact on the cause of democracy itself.
What China Wants from the
Game By Michael Bristow
(BBC, Aug. 7, 2008) China hoped to showcase all it
had achieved over the past 30 years since opening up to the outside world,
but outside criticism has changed all that.
U.S. in “Firm Opposition” to
Chinese Human Rights Policies, Bush Says By Michael Abramowitz (Washington Post, Aug. 7, 2008) President Bush on Thursday used
some of his bluntest language to date on human rights in China,
saying that "America stands in firm opposition" to China's
detention of political dissidents and religious activists.
China’s Leaders Are
Resilient in Face of Change By Jim Yardley
(NYT, Aug. 6, 2008) If the Olympics have
presented unmistakable challenges and crises, the Communist Party has proved
resilient. The short-term byproduct of the Olympics has been a surge in
Chinese patriotism that bolstered the party against international criticism.
Getting in Shape for Games,
China Strengthens Ties with Neighbors By Edward Wong (NYT, Aug. 5, 2008) After two years of intensive and often
secretive overtures, Taiwan and Japan, two neighbors long viewed as the most
likely to face a military threat from a rising China have been drawn closer
into its orbit.
Why China Has the Torch By Jere Longman
(New York Times, Aug. 3, 2008) Parsing the impact
of the seven-year buildup is difficult. Even before its selection for the
Olympics, China
was, gradually, becoming more open for ordinary people.
Calling China’s Human Rights
Bluff By Jim Hoagland
(Washington
Post, Aug. 3, 2008) Every aspect of life under totalitarian governments is
political, from sports to culture to business. President Bush and other world
leaders attending the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics this week
should stop pretending otherwise.
China’s Dash for Freedom
(The Economist, Jul. 31, 2008) On balance, the
award of the games has done more harm than good to the opening up of China.
The big forces driving that opening are independent of the games.
China to Limit Web Access
During Olympic Games By Andrew Jacobs (New
York Times, Jul. 31, 2008) The International
Olympic Committee failed to press China to allow fully unfettered
access to the Internet for the thousands of journalists arriving here to
cover the Olympics.
Bush Meets 5 Dissidents from
China before Games By Sheryl Gay Stolberg (New York Times, Jul. 30, 2008) President Bush held private talks
with five prominent Chinese dissidents on Tuesday, and urged China’s
foreign minister to relax restrictions on human rights.
China Using Olympics as
‘Pretext’ for Crackdown: Amnesty
(AFP, Jul. 29, 2008) China is using the Beijing Olympics as a pretext
to pursue -- and in some cases tighten -- a crackdown on human rights,
notably ridding the capital of "undesirables," Amnesty
International charged Monday.
Rights Issue Looms as Bush
Heads to China By Michael Abramowitz
(Washington
Post, Jul. 28, 2008) With President
Bush set to leave next week for the Olympics in Beijing, the White House
is coming under increased pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to make
a public statement of concern about the crackdown on human rights and freedom
in China.
Olympics: Wary China Readies
for Some Patriot Games By Jonathan Watts
(Guardian, Jul. 28, 2008) With less than two weeks until the opening
ceremony, the tide of nationalist fervor is rising to fever pitch as the
torch enters the final stages of its epic and controversial journey to Beijing.
China’s Agony of Defeat By Orville Schell
(Newsweek, Aug. 4, 2008) The Beijing Games
present a fraught and sensitive moment. China has made a Herculean effort
to prepare the way for this spectacle, in which ordinary Chinese, not just
their leaders, can announce themselves to the world as having regained their
national greatness.
In Washington, China and
Critics Spread Separate Versions of Coming Olympic Games (AP, Jul. 25, 2008) The Olympic games begin in Beijing
on Aug. 8, but already the competition to sway public opinion in the United States
is heating up between anti-China activists and Chinese authorities. It is
transforming the run-up to the global sports gathering into a public
relations marathon.
Open China’s Great Firewall
(Christian Science Monitor, Jul. 24, 2008) China
has more people online than any other country. But its rulers are also
world-class obstructors of the Internet, a practice
sure to be under scrutiny during the Olympic Games, when foreigners used to
Web freedom will visit Beijing.
China’s Unreality TV
(Editorial, New York Times, Jul. 22, 2008) We
will never know whether China’s
leaders intended to keep their word. What we do know is that the
International Olympic Committee, corporate sponsors and governments around
the world should have held China
to its word.
China is Growing Unfriendly
to Foreigners, Visitors Say By Ariana Eunjung
Cha (Washington
Post, Jul. 19, 2008) Some human rights advocates, business associations and
foreign visitors say the visa crackdown has more to do with keeping out
potential foreign protesters. They say the process is alienating foreigners.
Faster, Higher – But Freer?
(Editorial, The Guardian, Jul. 12, 2008) The opening ceremony will be less of a coming-out parade for Chinese leaders than a
coronation. For the very same reasons, western leaders rightly remain uneasy
about giving their imprimatur to a regime which jails dissidents, persecutes
religious groups, backs Burma
and bankrolls Darfur.
China Crackdown Targets
Critics Ahead of Olympics By Henry Sanderson
(AP, Jul. 11, 2008) As Beijing enters the final stretch before the August
8-24 Olympics, the government is trying to shut out anyone it believes might
mar an event meant to showcase China as a modern nation.
Fraying at the Edges
(The Economist, Jul. 10, 2008) Taiwan is a big unfinished
nationalist project at a time when Chinese nationalism is gaining potency. Beijing’s present policy relies on Taiwan’s refraining from any
“provocation”. This is dangerously fragile.
Around the World, Activists
Assemble to Press China on Rights By Robin Shulman (Washington
Post, Jul. 9, 2008) Marking the one-month countdown to the start of the
Beijing Olympic Games, activists gathered here and in cities around the world
Tuesday to call on China
to ease crackdowns on dissenters and release political prisoners.
China Seen as Reneging on
Media-Freedom Vow By Geoffrey York
(Globe and Mail, Jul. 7, 2008) When 25,000
foreign journalists descend on Beijing next month to cover the Olympics, they
will face restrictions that are far from the "complete freedom"
China promised in its bid for the Games.
China Protests: A New
Approach? By Simon Elegant
(Time,
Jul. 4, 2008) The incident that took place in the remote town of Weng’an is more than a mere pre-Olympics anomaly and may
be part of a new, more open approach by Beijing to outbursts of
long-simmering rage.
Nationalist Fervor in China
Is Backed by Anger By Ted Plafker
(International Herald Tribune, Jun. 27, 2008)
Wrought from several sets of interwoven strands, the Chinese impulse toward
nationalism is an intricate fabric. Love of country is mixed with a sometimes
venomous ethnic chauvinism.
Return to Repression
(Editorial, Washington
Post, Jun. 23, 2008) The suppression of critical coverage and the harassment
of foreign journalists are the norms in China. What makes it remarkable
now is not only the brief relaxation of control that preceded it but the fact
that it comes just weeks before the Olympic Games in Beijing.
In China, the Game Has
Changed By Victor D. Cha
(LA
Times, Jun. 15, 2008) Political change in China is unavoidable, however. Beijing's leaders face a
Catch-22. The price for seeking the Olympic limelight to showcase China's
greatness is increased exposure to pressures to change.
Victim Or Victor? China’s
Olympic Odyssey By Ian Buruma
(Wall Street Journal, Jun. 7, 2008) Resurgent
nationalists are counting on a torrent of gold medals to erase centuries of
humiliation. Will the Beijing
Games complete a restoration of Chinese greatness or arrogance?
China's Pride Versus Western
Prejudice
(Asia Times, May 2, 2008) New wave of Chinese nationalism: This is at least the
fourth outbreak of Chinese patriotism or nationalism in the last decade:
previous triggers include the bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in
1999, the EP-3 US electronic surveillance plane incident in 2001, and
protests against the Japanese prime minister's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in 2005.
For Chinese, a Shift in
Mood, From Hospitable to Hostile By Edward Cody
(Washington Post, Apr. 29, 2008) Just weeks ago, most Chinese were welcoming
foreigners as Olympic guests and partners in the country's meteoric economic
development. But as the country enters the final 100 days before the Olympic
Games in Beijing,
the mood has changed. Many Chinese have begun to regard foreigners as
adversaries interfering in domestic affairs or, at worst, bigots unwilling to
accept China's
emergence as a great power.
China Falls Short on Vows
for Olympics: 'Long Way to Go' On Rights, Pollution And Press Freedom (Washington Post, Apr. 21, 2008)
China has spent billions of dollars to fulfill its commitment to stage a
grand Olympics. But beneath the shimmer and behind the slogan, China has not
lived up to a pledge in its Olympic action plan, released in 2002, to
"be open in every aspect," and a constitutional amendment adopted
in 2004 to recognize and protect human rights has not shielded government
critics from arrest.
What a 'Dissident President' Would Do at the Games By Ellen Bork (Washington Post, Jan. 7, 2008) China's
government arrested one of the country's most prominent dissidents late last
month. State security agents entered the home of Hu
Jia on Dec. 27, according to reports, cut the phone
line and gave his wife, Zeng Jinyan,
a warrant accusing her husband of subversion. The arrest of Hu, an advocate for AIDS victims and a critic of Beijing's handling of
the 2008 Olympics, poses a problem for the White House.
|
