Middle Kingdom, Center Stage

As China draws nearer to the opening of the Summer Olympics in Beijing, protesters across the world are drawing attention to the many problems that beset the country, and that the Middle Kingdom is trying so hard to push aside.

For our part, a small demonstration took place in downtown SLC yesterday, featuring gagged protesters in blood-stained clothing, waving Tibetan flags and carrying signs calling attention to China's human rights record, and the Free Tibet cause.

Last June another small demonstration took place when Real Salt Lake hosted the Chinese National Team for an international exhibition soccer match at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Chinese officials objected to Taiwanese and Tibetan flags being waved, as well as a sign posted by fans, in Chinese, reminding the team of the Tienanmen Square massacre (which anniversary had passed a few days before the match). RSL officials kowtowed to the Chinese and forced an end to the display. Flags and signs that were offensive to the Chinese were removed, and several individuals were ejected from the stadium.

For some time following the incident, soccer fans debated both the appropriateness of the protest and the response by the team. RSL won the game 1-0, but clearly China won the battle over free speech in Salt Lake City.

China's battle to control public opinion of itself is never ending. Recently that PR war has taken a violent and very public turn. Over the weekend, violence and rioting in Lhasa, Tibet resulted in scorched earth and death counts ranging from as low as 20 to over 100 people (depending on which side you believe). Always quick with the gag reflex, China promptly expelled foreign media, complicating the task of understanding the situation. China's Xinhua News agency was quick to point out, for example, that rioters were responsible for a great deal of property damage as well as the deaths of 13 civilians. Meanwhile, sources sympathetic to the Tibetan cause have produced disturbing images of casualties inflicted by the Chinese government in the violence.

Make no mistake: the Chinese government is an enemy to freedom and human rights, a barrier to free trade, and a friend to censorship.

China has had a great deal of success in persuading the world to simply "look the other way," when it comes to these true "crimes against humanity" but as the Middle Kingdom moves into the center stage it must be prepared for a far greater PR assault than it has faced so far.

And true supporters of freedom must be prepared to give China the fight that it deserves.