Sports and Diplomacy

On Friday, Xinhua claimed Chinese police officers opened fire upon a pro-Tibetan protest in Sichuan province, killing four rioters.

Of course the official line is that the officers were provoked and acted out of self-defense.

ABC4 has this video of the small protest that took place in downtown Salt Lake last week. Barbara Smith signs off with the following statement:

"And as China prepares to host the world for the Olympic games, this is exactly the image it doesn't want to project. Others argue that this is the China the world needs to see."

I'm arguing that both are true.

On Tuesday, Doug Robinson wrote this piece in the Deseret Morning News critical of calls to boycott the Beijing Olympics.

I agree that refusing to send athletes to China would accomplish little, and would probably be unfair to the athletes, but Robinson is far too willing to ignore the uncomfortable present and past realities of China as he tries to persuade the reader that talks of boycott are simple silliness.

Robinson asks if there is "any place on Earth perfect enough to host an Olympics these days"? The flippancy of the question itself belies his total lack of understanding of the situation in China. This is not a simple issue of political or ideological differences, but a matter of fundamental human rights and political oppression.

His preceding question hits closer to the mark, but again betrays Robinson's ignorance. He asks, "Isn't this something the IOC should have considered before they ever made Beijing the host?" I find it hard to believe that Robinson is really unaware of the controversies that have plagued these Olympic games for as long as the Chinese have made clear their intentions to host the games.

Robinson admits to the precedent that has been set, acknowledging that the Olympics "have been chronically politicized", pointing to "Hitler and his Aryan theory in '36, Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos and their black power salute in '68, Black September's murder and mayhem in '72, national boycotts in '56, '76, '80 and '84."

Robinson asks, "Isn't it a sign of diplomatic and political failure that these causes have nothing stronger to barter with than an athletic event?" Unfortunately, when it comes to the world's largest athletic competition, the "it's just a game" argument simply doesn't work.

Nevertheless, most governments are choosing to just play the game. After announcing on the 23rd that the EU would consider a boycott, today Patrick Hickey of the European Olympic committees declared the EU's "100 percent" opposition to such. President Bush recently pledged his support towards the Olympians, reaffirming his previous commitment to the Chinese premier to attend the events. Likewise South Korea's Yu Myung-hwan voiced his hope that the Olympics in Beijing would "enhance mutual understanding through sport."

The games are still months away (136 days), but thanks to the tireless efforts of opposition organizations across the world the understanding of some is beginning to be enhanced. The fundamental problem persists, however, that this enhanced understanding is truly anything but mutual.