I spoke to a close friend out about this post and she didn’t agree with my point of view. I am not sure if that is a reason to continue or if its a reason to drop it altogether.

I’ve been thinking about it for two days so here goes…

I wanted to write about the calls for a boycott of the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing in August, following the protests by monks in Lhasa, Tibet and the Chinese Government’s heavy handed response.

The boycott crew includes the Prime Minister of Poland, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown (although there seems to be some confusion about this) and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

The US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said:

“I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table.”

These calls feel very opportunistic to me, especially when you consider:

• The explosion of foreign investment in and trade with China. Direct foreign investment has exceeded US$500 billion since 1993.
• The amount of money we spend on Chinese goods. China is now the third largest exporter in the world.
• We’ve known that these Olympics were going to be held in Beijing since 2001.

Lets be clear, these politicians are proposing a symbolic ‘gesture’ as opposed to a meaningful stand i.e. boycotting the games in totality. And this reserve is hardly suprising given China’s wealth and increasing global influence.

Trade would arguably be a more effective lever if our Western leaders genuinely wanted to drive change in China. China was officially announced as a member of the WTO in 2001, the same year that it was awarded the 2008 games.

I am not condoning Chinese treatment of the Tibetan Monks or their support for Sudan and related events in Darfur (show me a high profile politician who is calling for a boycott in relation to the latter). I am arguing that these calls have no real teeth and aren’t the right course of action. If people feel strongly enough – and maybe they should, maybe I should – then the call should be for non-attendance.

Concerns with Chinese human rights policy haven’t prevented years of trade, international collaboration and engagement. The Chinese still have the same attitude to human rights. China isn’t going to change policies over night in response to a few headlines involving Western leaders and spineless threats, especially since the West is complicit in China’s economic development and global advance since Chinese economic reform (including the Open Door policy) in 1978.

The main catalyst for the headlines has been the global torch relay and the associated protests on behalf of Tibet in many of the countries that the torch has passed through. The irony is that the torch itself has a rather dubious past. The idea for the torch relay came from Carl Diem, Adolf Hitler’s Olympic organiser. It first appeared in 1936 for the Berlin games.

What’s my point? My point is that I wish our political leaders were genuine, principled, strong – then we might actually see real change and it would be sooner rather than later.

Tags: beijing, boycott, brown, china, hitler, lhasa, protests, sarkozy, sudan, tibet, torch