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In perhaps the most stunning example of incompetence in its history, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to hold the 2008 Olympics in Beijing on July 13, 2001. They granted China the Games in an attempt to make China part of the world community, rather than isolate them. History has shown, however, that appeasing tyrants and giving them what they want merely makes them bolder.
In their bumbling Neville Chamberlain impersonation, the IOC seems far too quick to forget the blood on the hands of the Chinese government. Three stark reminders of that should have left a greater impression on them.
The first example, and the worst, is the Chinese occupation of Tibet. Since 1950, an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have been killed, including 430,000 in 1959 when the Tibetans tried to resist the invasion. This was after promises the Chinese government made in 1951, and again in 1953, to leave Tibet and not interfere with its people. China's interest in Tibet is simple: the country is a major resource center, rich in gems, precious metals, and forests, many of which China is lacking. The government is also actively encouraging resettlement with the goal of outnumbering the Tibetans in their own country. The regime has also worked to destroy Tibetan culture and religion, recently placing the newest incarnate lama, 8-year-old Pawo Rinpoche, under house arrest.
The second reminder of this regime's brutality is the massacre in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. Hundreds of pro-democracy student protesters were mowed down by servants of the Chinese regime; to this day the government claims only 23 died. Even if that were true (which is considered extremely unlikely), that is still 23 Chinese people whose only crime was wanting a better life and more freedom.
The last example is hardly a misty memory: this very day the government is cracking down on another group it fears: the Falun Gong sect. Observers believe anywhere from 150 to 250 people have been killed or committed suicide in protest since the government banned the sect and began arresting its members. The only crime the Falun Gong followers have committed is, once again, opposing a totalitarian regime bent on its own self-preservation at whatever cost.
You don't even have to be in Falun Gong, though, to fall victim. According to Amnesty International on July 6th, China executed at least 1,781 people in the past three months - more than the rest of the world combined in the past three years. The Chinese people deserve the chance to host an Olympics, but they deserve certain things far more: freedom, democracy, human rights, and a government that doesn't slaughter them by the thousands for being opposed to its totalitarian policies. Rewarding the oppressive Chinese government is not the way to bring these things to the Chinese people. This also brings up another question: if the Chinese government treats its own people so badly, how will they treat the thousands of athletes, fans, protesters, and media who will converge on Beijing for the Olympics, if they dare to criticize the regime? Recently an American reporter was badly beaten by Chinese police, which doesn't exactly sound an encouraging note. The only thing one can hope for now, after the IOC decision, is that the Olympic rings will not come to represent nooses and handcuffs for anyone.
