China, Human rights and the Olympics

international | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis Tuesday August 28, 2007 09:19 by Gerald gerald.oconnor3 at mail dot dcu dot ie 0872789969

Can China host the Olympics when there are so many question marks over there human rights record

Can the Olympics take place in a country with no respect for human life

In 2001 china made a number of promises to the western world to improve its human rights situation in order to secure the Olympics in 2008, with a year to go before the start of the Olympics the Chinese Communist party has kept few if any of its promises.

In the last year in Ireland claims of organ harvesting of living Falun Gong practitioners in China have been heard in the Irish parliment in the committee on Human Rights. The author of the report also spoke to officals in the department of Foreign affairs, and following the meeting the department asked the Chinese Embassy to answer a number or questions and said offically that they take the report 'seriously'.

In the last year we have been brick klins in china that had slaves in them, these people were so badly treated that some of them even forgot their own names when they were rescued. It was discovered that the brick Klins had links to Chinese Communist party Officals. The communists tried to show it was an isolated issue but similar reports turned up through out china in the north which showed that it was to a degree wide spread.

In the last year we have seen the terrible examples of exploitation in Chinese factories even factories that are producing offical Olympics Chinese goods (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/business/worldbusines...iness). We are now seeing in different parts of the world a retraction of goods that are made in China because these factories are cutting costs at every corner. A number of children's toys 'made in china' have had to be withdrawn because of high levels of lead, a number of medicines 'made in china' have had to be withdrawn because they were believed to be unsafe. The BBC did a report a little while ago about dublings that were made from cardboard in Beijing, the communists repsonse, jail the reporter!!!!!!! (http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKPEK13...70812) This sad story goes even further, in the Communists sad attempt to blame some one for their falling standards and the blemishs on the made in China brand they then sentence State Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu to death. Personally I think not only is this a CCP way to solve the problem and is this guy made a scape goat, but more likely it is the settling of some scores in the back ground CCP style. There are much worse things happening in China and nobody is ever tried and convicted.

There have also been reports of the Communists closing news papers and Amnesty and the Irish Government have expressed concern about this. The Irish government has pressured the chinese Communist party to relax restraints on the media, (http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/7-8-10/58608.html)

Amnesty International has expressed concern about the cleaning up of 'undesirables' from the streets of Beijing (http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-8-21/58880.html). This is not homeless people or beggars which would be bad enough. It is any group which does not toe the party line and may protest during the Olympics. They have also used the global anti terror situation to their advantage by installing security camera's to cover much of Beijing similar to the situation in London, but the Communists say these are to target Falun Gong and other such groups.

And then there is the environmental issues and how the Chinese Communist Party is preparing for the Olympics. I remember I was in Beijing in 2002 and it was very funny to see offials painting grass green and sowing new grass because it would not grow naturally. Now apparently they have found solutions to get rid of clouds, by firing chemical bombs into the air. there have also been a few stories about people who did not want to more from their properties when the CCP decided that they were going to build a stadium or park for the Olmpics, there was one highly publicised story about a woman who did not want to move and they demolished everything around her. The story rolled on for a while in the international press until one day, she agree, house demolised over night and then she disappeared. Was it above board, who knows? An Irish times reporter in Beijing told me some time ago about the demolision of certain old China tourist sites such as markets and old suburbs. Unlike in Ireland were we have years of delay in building roads because of hold ups with Tara, in China these places disappeared nearly over night.

Bottom line there are some many signs that the Olympics in China have not been a good thing for the people of China. All this will achieve is that it will be a badge of honour for the Communist party and help to validate its rule for another few years until the next man made communist disaster. Personally I think the Beijing Olympics may bring a few shocks from inside China yet, there were over 100,000 riots or mass events reported by the Communists last year, that is alot of disgruntled people and the Olympics gives them an international stage to air their grievances. Will the communist be able to keep a lid on things?

Any thoughts out their on the Beijing Olympics?