Saving the embattled Beijing Olympics

By HU XINGDOU
Column: China Issues

Published: May 06, 2008

Japanese police keep Chinese and Japanese demonstrators apart during the Olympic Torch relay in Nagano, Japan, April 26. Foreign criticism is stirring heated Chinese nationalism ahead of the Beijing Olympics. (UPI Photo/SNP/Yoshiyuki Iwaki)

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Beijing, China — As the Beijing Olympic Games approach, people have increasingly twisted concepts and mixed feelings about them since the Western world has linked the Games with the Tibet issue.

At the same time, this has aroused high emotions and extreme nationalism in China. If both the Western world and China itself do not handle this conflict well, it may lead to China reversing the progress it has made on the path toward reform, opening and democracy. That would be a tragedy for China, and would also be harmful to the world.

The ongoing, overwhelming expression of nationalism in China is highly worrying. Extreme nationalism leads in the opposite direction from reform, opening and joining the world community. Indulging in extreme nationalism will greatly hinder China's modernization. It could weaken the country, causing it to turn inward and become embroiled in internal conflicts. As for the Beijing Olympics, they may become a grand gathering where only the Chinese turn up to amuse themselves.

Extreme nationalism is actually a double-edged sword; it will not damage the political powers in the West, but it can easily exert negative influence within China itself. For example, it is driving people to organize mass action these days, such as boycotting the Carrefour supermarket chain within China. If any kind of domestic crisis were to erupt -- involving the stock market, the real estate market, financial institutions, inflation, unemployment, the appropriation of farmers' land by authorities, the predicament of failing enterprises or the wave of citizens' petitions for justice -- China would very likely collapse into chaos.

Patriotism is necessary, but blind, extreme patriotism is harmful to the nation. It should be abandoned in favor of altruism, if people care about the nation. The simple-minded, ignorant nationalism of angry youth should be transformed into rational calls for a democratic and legal system.

The issues of Tibet and of human rights are both related to the country's system of governance. If China doesn't improve its system, it will not be able to resolve the problem of Tibetan autonomy.

The more the Western world seeks to block China, the more China should work on its reform and opening. China cannot become stronger unless it advances its reform and opening. Therefore, China should respond to condemnation from the West on its human rights record by launching a revolution to strengthen the rule of law. China should start to abandon its various harmful policies and begin an innovation of its whole system.

To begin with, the system of reeducation through labor should be abolished, an amnesty be granted to those given this penalty, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights should be ratified.

The system of reeducation through labor is the most evil system in contemporary China and is strongly condemned in the West. Abolishing it would show the government's determination to rule the country by law. Offering an amnesty would demonstrate a democratic and merciful spirit on the part of the Chinese government.

Ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights would fulfill China's promise to meet the obligations of a great country.

These measures would enable China to regain its reputation in the international community, and would also win widespread domestic support for the administration under the leadership of Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao.

(Hu Xingdou is professor of economics and China issues at the Beijing Institute of Technology, and an expert on social problems. This article is translated and edited from the Chinese by UPI Asia Online. ©Copyright Hu Xingdou.)