At first glance, it seems that the Beijing Olympics has been ruined even before the opening ceremony. The torch relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco have all been met with fierce protests about the Chinese ‘crackdown’ in Tibet. However, I believe that one thing needs to be remembered – the Chinese government doesn’t care if the entire world supports the Dalai Lama, just as long as the majority of Chinese citizens still believe the aging monk is a diabolical separatist.
I believe Andrew Fischer in The Guardian is pretty much spot on – the demonstrations that have dogged the torch relay are actually of benefit to the Chinese government. Very much like the US government’s War on Terrorism, the Chinese government also thrives on conflict, except a lot of its conflict are being directed at the West. The Chinese government and the Chinese media are using the protests to further isolate Chinese citizens. Olympic tourists may now be greeted with the sentence, ‘why are you ruining our Games’, instead of the Olympic song ‘We are ready’.
Basically, the Chinese government wants to manufacture a world where it is Chinese people against the rest of the world. The protests have not ruined the Games, but they provided proof that the world is trying to crush Chinese people – and only the Chinese government is fit for the task of protecting them. Jin Jing, the disabled woman who nearly had the torch snatched from her grasp, has become another Lei Feng, a tale of strength against adversity.
According to the Chinese government, overseas Chinese are uniting and trying to protect the Olympic torch against all odds. If you ask me, the Chinese government’s depiction of overseas Chinese blatantly disrespects national boundaries and should be stopped. It is using the citizens of another country to promote racist and nationalistic policies. I am sure that not all overseas Chinese support the Chinese government and the Beijing Olympics, but if you watch the Chinese media, you would believe that overseas Chinese are still loyal to the Chinese government. The protests have attempted to ruin the Olympic torch relay, but they have proved useful to the Chinese government. Divisions between Chinese people and the rest of the world have widened.
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