Olympic torch relay in Seoul

Pictures like these have gone around the world recently, referring to the torch relay of the Beijing Olympic Games this year. In this picture, a Chinese protester is attacking a man at the torch relay in Seoul on 27 March 2008. Media wrote about the attacked man being just a passenger. I’ll get back to this point later.

As an observer of the news coverage on this subject I came across lots of populist reports, but unfortunately only a few objective ones. Hatred against China has been induced by a majority of one-sided journalism that portrays small and defenseless Tibet as the victim of an ever rising gigantic world power.

Grown up in Switzerland and having much more a Swiss mindset rather than a Chinese one, I couldn’t sympathize more with a small country requesting independence and autonomy. There are many things about China I resent – e.g. the fact that my grandparents lost everything because of the Communists, and after having escaped to Vietnam, three decades after the same fate occurred to my parents, who fled to Switzerland, with nothing but 100 US Dollars hidden in cigarette boxes and a baby girl in their arms. If anyone in this world should hate a communist government, it should probably be me. I feel as close to the Chinese government as a cat feels to getting a cold shower.

But who could resent the Chinese government and its people for their anger at the western press coverage and the subsequent riots at the torch relay? Being a visitor to Beijing in 2006 for one whole month I had the chance to experience the enthusiasm and magic that surrounded the advent of the Games. It is a symbol of pride, openness and integration of China in the world. The Chinese government made tremendous efforts to improve in areas they are frequently being criticized to shape up for the Games. The Games were the best pressurizing medium of the international community to induce improvements in China. But now – alas - it’s being all messed up.

A huge leap forward which has obviously been undermined by the turmoil around the Tibet issue was the recent introduction of property rights in China. In a country that is growing at such a pace, bringing on structural changes without taking radical measures would be tantamount to squaring the circle. As a reaction to the mass relocations that have been – rightly - widely criticized, the Chinese government started compensating property owners who are being forced to relocate due to projects of public interest. Many people probably already forgot, but the picture of the house in Chongqing of the owner who was reluctant to sell his piece of land to the government was symbolic to the tremendous change in property rights.

China certainly has a severe problem with environmental issues and is unwilling to give in to western pressure to cap its carbon emissions. Well, imagine yourself being the father of a family that is growing at an unreal pace, hungry for food and energy. Would you accept limitations that would cut off the very supply of resources that keeps your family alive? Moreover, the majority of the emissions are produced by factories brought in by the very community that is criticizing the loudest: the West. China has not turned a blind eye to environmental issues. A ministry of environmental protection has recently been established in the central government and an immense number of entrepreneurs are being subsidized in their efforts to bring on cleaner sources of energy. For a giant country like China, capping carbon emissions might just not be the appropriate strategy to improve environmental protection.

How death penalty is brought on in China is a shame, they definitely need to improve on human rights. But it leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth to be criticized loudest about human rights by a country which’s one state called Texas still fervently supports the death penalty. Do convicted innocent people get any fairer process in Texas as they would in China?

Point is, China is making tremendous efforts to balance the astronomical growth of its economy, the hunger for resources of its people, public interest and international critique. And now Tibet – yes, it’s certainly not appropriate how Tibetan minorities are partly being treated by the Chinese. But it should not be forgotten that before the Chinese came, the Tibetan people were bond-slaves of the Buddhist monasteries and had way lesser rights than they have today. Under the Chinese occupation, Tibet experienced economic progress and wealth. Ask yourself what would happen to Tibet’s economy and people if they suddenly became completely independent from China. Remember what happened to the Soviet Union when it fell apart?

What many people do not know is that Tibetan Buddhism is widespread among the Han Chinese and highly respected – in China. I don’t know how many Tibetan Buddhist temples I saw during my visit to Beijing and how many respectful statements I heard from Han Chinese about Tibetan religion and culture. During my stay, a huge Tibet summit took place in Beijing to enhance the understanding of Tibetan religion, lifestyle and culture. Amongst the majority of Tibetans and Chinese, there is deep peace, understanding and harmony. In the last few years, there have been many initiatives to get closer, including the construction of the highest railway in the world between Beijing and Lhasa.

And now the media. Media tends to cling to sensation, because it’s their business, it’s how they make their money and earn their daily staff of life. The more sensation, the richer journalists become. Where media finds sensation is often in the upheaval of small groups of radicals. Media can make a mountain out of a molehill, because they can move the world by spreading emotions that bothers people most. They jump on an emotion wave and surf all along with it, adding momentum again and again until the wave subsides. People fear great powers. People sympathize with oppressed minorities. Some radicals rioted in Tibet at the perfect timing before the Olympic Games. The perfect headline is created for the media.

Let me come back to the picture above of an alleged passenger in Seoul being attacked by a Chinese protester. It happens that one of my friends who attended the torch relay in Seoul saw that same passenger just minutes before the photo was taken. The passenger wore activist banners and deliberately mixed among Chinese students to provoke them. The passenger grabbed a bicycle and swung it around him to attack the Chinese students. My friend took a picture of that scene, which was published in a Chinese newspaper. As a response, some Chinese students tried to attack the bicycle swinger, but my friend jumped in between, shouting at the Chinese students to stop and urged the man to leave as fast as he could. Minutes later, the picture of the man being attacked by a martial arts Chinese protester was taken - and of course only that was published by the western media.

My point is that facts can be easily twisted by only showing one side of the story. The power of media is that they can only tell whatever they prefer to tell – and leave away whatever they like to leave away. By all the antipathy I feel against the Chinese Communist government, this time I think they are being criticized unfairly. So, let me ask again: Who could resent the Chinese government and its people for their anger at the western press coverage and the subsequent riots at the torch relay?