On Aug. 8, when Beijing invites the world’s leaders to usher in the start of the 2008 Olympics, dissident Yang Chunlin will likely begin serving the start of a five-year sentence for “inciting subversion.” At the same time Yang begins his sentence, the sun will be setting on the international community’s last real chance to press China to offer basic human rights like property, free speech and a fair trial.
In the United States, a grassroots activist like Yang who campaigns for farmers’ rights is likely to run into both supporters and opponents when he brings up a controversial issue. Detractors might even attack him on the Internet. In China, however, he has done far worse, at least in the government’s eyes, and could spend years in captivity because of it. As distressing as this is, foreign governments are equally complicit in turning a blind eye to oppression, to their shame and embarrassment.
When Beijing grabbed the winning bid to host the 2008 Olympics in 2001, many international observers questioned why a country still grappling with basic infrastructure, record-setting pollution and infamous human-rights abuses could snag the coveted prize. For its part, the Chinese government pledged to undertake massive reforms to fix these problems. The Olympics were supposed to be more than fun and games; the ruling Communist Party promised it would use the games to showcase how far the nation has come.
Instead, the Chinese government completely reversed itself, cracking down violently on Tibetan rioters last week while suppressing all dissent associated with the Olympics. Foreign journalists report massive roadblocks barring them from accessing any incriminating news while the government persecutes its own people. Activist Hu Jia, another government critic, faces his own trial for basically the same charge as Yang. All told, Reporters Without Borders lists on its website about 80 journalists and other dissidents who have been imprisoned by the Chinese government, many for decades. Many more uncounted activists from the Chinese countryside face violent suppression, according to sporadic reports.
Why then are outside observers, who have more power to leverage China now than at any other time in the foreseeable future, acting so complacent in the face of such a flagrant about-face? France and other members of the European Union have suggested they may boycott the opening ceremonies if China does not answer its critics, and Communist officials’ only public response has been to publish more propaganda highlighting ambassadors that support China. Xinhua News Agency, one of many government-controlled Chinese media outlets, has circulated whitewashed stories like the March 25 article “Foreigners in Tibet: Western media reports not conform with facts” and other blatant attempts to cover up the government’s failings.
There are still options everyone from European nations to concerned individuals the world over can embrace to hold China to its promise. World leaders as well as television viewers at home can threaten to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympics until the Chinese government releases its political prisoners and stops suppressing the foreign and domestic press. This embarrassment would show the government that its actions will not go unnoticed. The clock in Tiananmen Square is ticking.