Japan Brief/FPCJ, No. 0856
August 27, 2008

Closing of the Beijing Olympics and Future Issues for China

The 29th Summer Olympic Games came to an end with a magnificent closing ceremony in Beijing’s National Stadium in the evening of August 24. The Beijing Olympics, which were the largest in Olympic history, ended without any major confusion; there had been concern that the Chinese capital might be hit by terrorism or disturbances, but none occurred. Over the 17 days exciting contests unfolded in 302 events in 28 sports, and China, for the first time, came top with 51 gold medals, far ahead of the United States in second place.

In talks on August 22 with foreign government leaders who were visiting Beijing to attend the closing ceremony, Chinese President Hu Jintao said proudly, “The fact that the Olympic Games were held in China, which comprises one-fifth of the world’s population, shows the trust of the world in China and the responsibility of China to the world” (Yomiuri Shimbun, August 25). President Hu’s remarks probably indicated his satisfaction that the management of the Beijing Olympics had been successful and his confidence that China had been able to demonstrate its status as a power to the rest of the world.

China Staked National Prestige on Beijing Olympics
On August 25 Japan’s five national newspapers reported the closing ceremony as top news, covering the event prominently on their front, sports, and social pages. However, as well as reporting on the Beijing Olympics simply as a grand sporting event, all five newspapers also showed much interest on the connection between the “17 days in Beijing” and China’s domestic politics and foreign relations. Therefore, they also mobilized their international news and op-ed pages and carried lengthy articles analyzing the political, economic, and social issues in China that lurked behind the carnival-like closing ceremony. Unlike the two previous Summer Olympics in Sydney and Athens, reporting on the Beijing Olympics can be said to have focused significantly on the political aspect of the games.

For China, the Beijing Olympics was a major event involving national dignity. They were the biggest games ever in terms of the number of participating countries and territories (204), the number of participating athletes (about 12,000), and the number of heads of state and government leaders who attended the opening ceremony (more than 80). The Olympic torch also traveled the longest journey ever on its way to Beijing, covering 20 countries and 137,000 kilometers in 130 days.

At a closing press conference on August 24, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge was full of praise for the Beijing Organizing Committee, saying that “We have the splendid village, we have the state-of-the-art venues, and we have incredible operation.” Rogge also stressed the significance of the Beijing Olympics, commenting that “The world learned more about China, and China learned more about the world.” It can be said, therefore, that the Chinese leadership almost fully achieved its goal of impressing the world with China’s development and spreading an exalted feeling of national pride throughout the country.

The Dark Side of the Successful Games: Control and Suppression
The sporting venues of the Beijing Olympics were awash with contests of strength and beauty. On a different dimension to that of the “festival of peace and friendship,” however, the Beijing correspondents of Japan’s national newspapers also turned their attention to the many contradictions that exist in China. Moreover, many of the reports from China focused on the fact that the Chinese government had prevented these contradictions from coming to the surface by force in order to showcase the success of the event. Headlined “17 days of vigor and vanity,” an article by a team of Beijing correspondents of the Mainichi Shimbun (August 25) criticized the disabling of several websites that transmitted information critical of China and interference in reporting by the Chinese public security authorities. They also reported, among other things, that ordinary citizens in Beijing were complaining about the excessive security that was implemented on the pretext of containing terrorism.

Under the headline “’Successful’ Olympics, distant presence,” the Asahi Shimbun (August 25) put together a special feature by its correspondents in Lhasa (the capital of Tibet), the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, and Beijing, that reported discontent among ordinary citizens in these three places regarding the fact that checkpoints, searches, arrests, and the like had increased as a result of tightened security during the Olympics. In an article titled “Hard-line China may return: Hu’s post-Olympic stance on human rights, security remains uncertain,” the Beijing correspondent of the Yomiuri (August 25) wrote, “Until now the Hu administration has seen the Olympics as a kind of hostage and has had to show a degree of consideration for international pressure, but after the Olympics it could tighten its hard-line stance in the fields of human rights and security.”

Newspaper Editorials on the Beijing Olympics
On the occasion of the closing ceremony, Japan’s national newspapers all carried editorials summing up the Beijing Olympics.

The Yomiuri editorial (August 25) commented, “The portrayal of ethnic harmony at the opening ceremony was incongruous. Children dressed in the costumes of all 56 ethnic groups in China carried the Chinese flag, but most of them belonged to the Han group. It showed just how much the Chinese authorities look down on and do not respect the ethnic minorities in their country. . . . The Olympic Charter stipulates that one of the fundamental principles of Olympism is the spirit of fair play. The fancy dress act runs counter to that spirit.” It concluded, “This exposed the difficulty of holding the Olympics in a totalitarian country.”

The Mainichi editorial (August 25) stated, “What international opinion hoped for from China was not narrow-minded nationalism but the soft power befitting a major country holding a festival of peace, the figure of a tolerant country endeavoring to solve such issues as ethnic minorities, including the Tibet problem, environmental degradation, and the suppression of human rights, through wisdom and dialogue.” Expressing concern about the social situation in China after the Olympics, it went on, “Now that the festival is over, in which direction is the exalted nationalism of the Chinese people going to turn? Commodity prices are continuing to rise. Share prices are continuing to fall. Conflicts between residents and the police are increasing around the country. If the economy slumps, it will ignite the silent discontent in society.”

Urging political reform for balanced economic development in China, the Asahi editorial (August 25) remarked, “But how much political reform is possible under a one-party rule? Unless China can overcome this paradox, there will be no path of development as a stable world power.” It also commented, “In addition, we hope China will use its new confidence as a world power to contribute to the international community. China should be able to not only pursue its own national interests, but also play a huge role in such issues as fighting global warming. The Beijing Olympics had a slogan of ‘One World, One Dream.’ Tackling global warming while expanding cooperation with the international community is a way to turn that slogan into reality.”

The Nikkei editorial (August 25) focused almost entirely on China’s economic problems. Regarding the likelihood that China will emerge as the third largest economic power in the world behind the United States and Japan, it observed, “China’s rapid growth into an economic power has been driven by exports and investment. However, such factors as the worldwide economic slowdown, the appreciation of the yuan, and the rise in labor costs have overlapped, and China’s trade surplus is shrinking.” The Nikkei added, “In order to achieve further economic development, prompted by the Olympics, China must shift away from its conventional growth model. Structural reforms toward the expansion of domestic demand, such as personal consumption, are urgent.”

The Sankei Shimbun editorial (August 24) stated, “In light of the Olympic Charter, which proclaims the ideal of ‘promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity,’ we have several reservations in giving the Beijing Olympics a pass mark. First of all, were the freedom of reporting and expression and human rights, which should be given priority by a country holding the Olympics, fully guaranteed? That is doubtful.” Referring to the on-the-spot coverage of an attack by extremists in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, it was very critical of the response of the Chinese authorities, saying, “The arrest, albeit for a short time, of several Japanese reporters, including a reporter of the Sankei, is abnormal and goes against the grain of a democratic society.”

(Copyright 2008 Foreign Press Center / Japan)