No Tibetan Olympic Team, right?

I will warn you in advance, dear reader - I am a little cranked up today.

Seven years ago, I wrote a little something for a website that I developed when I was an expatriate living in Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.  It has turned out to be more than prophetic, so I believe the time is now to resurrect it in light of the current international turmoil surrounding the Olympic flame and the protests it has engendered world wide.  The central point of the editorial back then was human rights in China.  Here is the original article, followed by some current commentary:

"Taiwan is known officially as the Republic of China, and functions as a democratic regime on an island 100 miles off the coast of mainland China. Communists under Mao Tse-Tung overran the Republic of China after World War II, and have since claimed to be the legitimate government of China. They also pursue the political ideology of "One China". And they continue to oppress the very people who's republic they say it is (People's Republic of China is their official name). Ever since Chiang Kai-Shek fled with the legitimate government of China to the island of Formosa in 1949, the Communist regime has viewed Taiwan as a rogue province to be recovered at all costs. Over the years, the Communist leaders on the mainland have managed to bully the rest of the world into accepting them as the legitimate government of China. Taiwan was one of the charter members of the United Nations, yet they were stripped of their seat in favor of the these hooligans. Yes, I know this is not politically correct these days, but what are they going to do about it--my ISP is in the U.S. where I have the freedom to say whatever the hell I want to.

Just how did they do this? However they managed it, the world's leaders chose to ignore every not-so-subtle indication that these guys aren't exactly the definition of trustworthy. The cold war may be over, but to really get a hint of what these guys are really about, try this on for size. These are two snippets taken from the front page of The Wall Street Journal on the same day in January, 2001. They represent a perfect example of the two-faced hypocrisy that the PRC has gotten away with. When will we wake up and realize that these people will tell us what we want to hear in order to accomplish their agenda?

[The first snippet:]

China intends to ratify a key international human-rights pact within the next three months, officials told the U.N. secretary-general. The government is seeking to keep human-rights abuses from sinking Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics. The treaty is one of two, which also has yet to be ratified, that lays down baseline guarantees for civil liberties often neglected in China.

[Followed in close proximity by this one:]

China intensified a crusade aimed at deterring protests by the Falun Dafa during Lunar New Year celebrations.  Beijing warned that deonstrators would be harshly punished and urged the group's followers not to sacrifice themselves.  Meanwhile, members of the sect are selling works by its leader at two market kiosks in Hong Kong amid warnings from Beijing that the city should not be used for "subversion".

This is great, isn't it? You just can't make this stuff up! Just for information, this Falun Dafa group (also known as Falun Gong) is a peaceful religious sect that practices meditation, self reliance and inner strength. Now, we can't have that, can we? Want more examples? Can you say "Tienanmen Square, June 4th, 1989"? Or how about Tibet, and the Dalai Lama? Stay tuned for more.... Don't you just love freedom of the press?"

So that was what I wrote seven years ago, the day that these two snippets appeared to expose the duplicity that permeates the Chinese government. Now, we are faced with a real dilemma and are looking to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to take a position. 

According to the Associated Press, when Jacques Rogge, the IOC head, was asked whether he had second thoughts about awarding the games to Beijing seven years ago, he responded: 

"I've said that it is very easy with hindsight to criticize the decision," he said. "It's easy to say now that this was not a wise and a sound decision." Again according to the Associated Press, Rogge insisted Beijing had "clearly the best bid" and offered the strong pull of taking the Olympics to a country with one-fifth of the world's population. "That was the reasoning for awarding the bid to Beijing."

When Beijing was seeking the games, Rogge noted, Chinese officials said the Olympics would help advance social change, including human rights. He called that a "moral engagement" and stressed there was no "contractual promise whatsoever" on human rights in the official host city contract.

"I would definitely ask China to respect this moral engagement," Rogge said, in one of his most pointed comments on the subject.

Rogge reported having "very frank and open discussions" with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on a range of Olympic issues Wednesday. He declined to elaborate. Rogge insisted that "a number of important points have been met" on human rights, including a new Chinese law enacted in 2007 that removed many restrictions on foreign journalists. But he said the law had not been fully implemented and he was urging Chinese officials to do so "as soon as possible."

Okay, that's enough from the AP on the subject.  Considering that I wrote about this seven years ago, why should any of us be surprised that things have turned out this way?  Beijing is escorting foreign journalists, allowing them no freedom of movement, always under the control of their "handler".  They have cut off free access to the internet, so their citizens don't have accurate information at all.  And before it is over, they will make another empty promise, and the world will accept it, not even considering the possibility that they might be lying.  I for one won't be buying it.  For those who believe anything coming out of Beijing's mouth, I have a wonderful piece of beachfront property for sale about ten miles outside of Tucson.

As I said before, I just love freedom of the press - it's a wonderful tool to enable us to poke a sharp stick into Beijing's eye.