FE Editorial The long game

The Financial Express
Posted: 2008-08-08 22:11:04+05:30 IST
Updated: Aug 08, 2008 at 2211 hrs IST

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: China’s communist party has shown a surprising belief in superstition by choosing to open the country’s first Olympic games as hosts on the ‘auspicious’ 08/08/08. And they just may need some divine luck to ensure the smooth success of its ‘coming out’ party. In the coming two weeks, China is meant to show its best side to the world. Things haven’t necessarily got off to the best start. Islamic extremists from Xinjiang sounded out a warning in an attack that killed a number of policemen some days ago, sparking off fears about security and safety of participants, not to mention the press corps from all over the world. Some of the latter already seem displeased with restrictions on their freedom of action, given Beijing had promised to be a good host. Still, it would be only reasonable to assume that the Chinese government will be able to ride these bumps to ensure that the games proceed as planned.

It would help, though, if intense media scrutiny of the games also highlight some of China’s glaring flaws: lack of basic civic freedoms, heavy censorship, instutionalised bad treatment of rural migrants—the list is far longer. If China wants an image makeover, it needs to work on these things as well—just building terrific roads, railways and airports, however commendable, isn’t enough. Sadly, the communist party is likely to engage in even more suppression to ensure the smooth functioning of the games—in Xinjiang, the response to the recent terror attack is likely to be mass repression, just like in Tibet. Of course, opponents of the regime would do better to protest using peaceful means as that is likely to gain more sympathy from the world’s media. Even China’s worst critics have to grant the country and its authoritarian regime a fair deal of credit for their economic policy initiatives—no other country has recorded growth rates of over 10% for three decades. If this prosperity turns out, as some China-watchers expect, to be the biggest threat to the communist party’s rule—demand for freedom and rights are supposed to follow the attainment of basic economic livelihood—the party will need all the luck to fight off that challenge over the next decade or two.