Germany Warns China Olympics at Risk (Update: France Considering Boycott)

reply to post by neformore


You're right. I think I've just been one of the most persistent in making my suspicions known, but most of the posters I personally suspected have disappeared from the threads anyway, so no sense beating a dead horse. I like to give Ichi a hard time though, but he knows it's all in good fun, right Ichi?

An interesting article about the sudden net accessability (and BBC broadcasting) in China.

The challenges of reporting in China

Last week thousands of Chinese found they were able to access the BBC News website for the first time, after years of strict censorship. They e-mailed to tell us what they thought, and many were critical of our coverage.

Here the BBC's Asia bureau chief Paul Danahar, who is based in Beijing, responds to this criticism and looks at the challenges of reporting in China.

So it is true, the "Great Firewall" is in part going down. But...

My TV blacks out when someone says the magic words Tibet or Tiananmen protests; my daily paper is an unsophisticated propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party and half the websites I want to read are blocked including, until recently, this one.

But when suddenly the English language edition of the BBC News website (the Chinese one is still blocked by the government) became accessible in China, some readers here, but by no means all, took exception to what they saw.

People like Xie Huai from Zhengzhou e-mailed the site saying: "I often find that stories about China diverge from the truth. Why?"

The answer to the question lies in the word "truth". Only now are many Chinese getting the chance to debate the "truth" of foreign media publications (and only those not in Chinese) because only now are they getting a point of view on some important topics at odds with the one provided by the state-controlled media.

There is, of course, enormous debate on the internet in China about all sorts of controversial issues ranging from politics to sex.

But writing about things like Tibet, Falun Gong and the Tiananmen Square protests can land you in jail.

According to the article Wikipedia --with certain limitations-- are now aviable too.

It is not only the BBC that has suddenly became available. Wikipedia has now been partially unblocked by the Chinese.

But consider the next sentence, which I have reproduced exactly as it appears on the Wikipedia website (including the grammatical errors).

"The Dalai Lama, whom in the past was funded by CIA [21] , originally pushed for independence for Tibet, which was a slavery feudal society prior taken over by the P.R.C. government."

You can read this page in full but as soon as you click on the links of words like independence or Tibet, the connection drops off and you have to reload Wikipedia all over again.

This does not happen when you search the site for anything else.

So they are in part taking down the firewall for manipulations to controll the news instead.

I seriously doubt the US would withdraw, or any nation for that matter. There is alot of money to be made from the games, includign endorsements, future sales, royalites and whatnot. Ad revenue for the broadcasters, which in turn bring in income through the consumers for those posting the ads.

It will all go through according to plan, but there may very well be a threat level to the security of the sites and personell themselves. God forbid, and I truly hope it does not happen, but we would be naive to beleive there would not be a threat there, even for security as tight as Chinese.

Originally posted by khunmoon
Last week thousands of Chinese found they were able to access the BBC News website for the first time, after years of strict censorship. They e-mailed to tell us what they thought, and many were critical of our coverage.

the guy lies again, I'm in Beijing and I can access to BBC at any time I like.
"after years of strict censorship"? liar.
shame on your "free media"

Now we can see why "free people" are so bias about outside world.
lie is the common and long-term tradition of "free media".

[edit on 11-4-2008 by gs001]

reply to post by gs001




I love how you quote "free media", as if you can really sit here and tell us China has a "free media". It's quite clear what has happened here, and the mind games the PRC is playing with you guys. After probably drilling into your heads, over and over, lies about how much the west hates China and is bent on bringing it down, they open only sites they see as critical to China as if to prove their point, and allow the Chinese to flood those sites with the propaganda their minds have been filled with. Your being used as puppets by the PRC, who seems to be trying to shore up some kind of hatred for the west among it's population. Kind of like the US government tried to do with the Axis of Evil, except seemingly alot more effectively since they've always had tight control over you guys. I wonder what the PRC has up it's sleeve, and why it's trying to create such hate in China for the west....

reply to post by gs001


You may think you have an open media and internet. If that's the case, why would google be asked to censor Chinese internet searches?

Google censors itself for China

Google agrees to censor results for China

I gave 2 different sources to prove this isn't merely a BBC hoax. Reuters has no reason to lie about this topic.

----------------

And back to the olympics:


China rages over attack on disabled torch bearer

A wheelchair-bound Chinese torch bearer has rocketed to national fame after fending off protesters in Paris, becoming a symbol of China's defiance of global demonstrations backing Tibet.

Jin Jing, a 27 year-old amputee and Paralympic fencer has been called the "angel in a wheelchair" and is being celebrated by television chat shows, newspapers and online musical videos after fiercely defending the Olympic torch during the Paris leg of the troubled international relay.

Protesters denouncing Chinese policy in Tibet threw themselves at Jin. Most were wrestled away by police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away.

Jin clung tenaciously to what has become a controversial icon of the Beijing Olympic Games until her attacker was pulled off.

While I am not for attacking anyone, let alone a disabled person, what did the Chinese expect? Did they honestly believe they'd get to travel across the world and not have people protest their actions?

Aside from being the largest polluter of CO2 in the world, aside from a terrible human rights records, aside from being "communist" (little c not big C), they still don't know how to act in the rest of the world.

The sleeping dragon is going to awaken as a bullying dragon as we can already see here with the "brutes" of the chinese olympics (the torch bearers).

Japan doesn't even want to get involved with them, how wonderful:


Japan says no to Chinese torch guards: reports

Japan will not allow the squad of Chinese flame guards to intervene with the Beijing Olympic torch's progress when it arrives in a Japanese city this month, the national police head was quoted as saying on Friday.

"We should not violate the principle that the Japanese police will firmly maintain security," Kyodo news agency quoted Shinya Izumi, head of the National Public Safety Commission, as saying.

"We do not know what position the people who escorted the relay are in," Izumi was quoted as saying. "If they are for the consideration of security, it is our role.

That's great for the Japanese. I wish the rest of the world was capable of such actions...but we bow to whatever the Chinese say because they own our debt and essentially our dollar. Nice.

Chinese state media have reported that the "flame protection squad", consisting of some 70 members of China's People's Armed Police, has been employed by the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee to safeguard the fire for 24 hours a day.

CPAP is involved with the olympic relay. Great. And the Chinese wonder why people are getting pissed off?

Khunmoon & 27jd,

Interesting article by BBC regarding the censorship.

First of all I just came back here for two years, not that I am/was a daily internet news sites guy, but since I had came back i never had a real problem with going online watching the Western MSM. Well, guess you have to take my words for it from my own experience. Like what many people would do to take the words of BBC.

Secondly, as you notice Gs001 is most likely a Chinese patriot with a broken English skills (just like me) and express himself more in a direct and quick way. (To Gs001, no offense meant, and I assume you won't mind I us eyou as an exmaple ). BUT this is a clear example of what I am talking about. I commented clearly that the general overall feeling among the Chinese people is that the Western MSM is bias and telling lies. This is fueling hatred. THIS is regardless if the Chinese government is "suppposedly purposedly" opening access to these Western MSM or not. Reality is that the Chinese common people whenever they see these bias reporting it will only increase some hatred towards the West, the old empirial colonial powers. We see mostly biases, double-standards and hypocricy.

I don't think the Chinese government need to do much if they are really intended to do this. One can only wonder why these Western reporting are considered as one-sided and not objective, and even actually giving ANYONE (at least in China) the feelings the whole Western world is against the Chinese people. Because again, the Western MSM is representing the West in the eyes of ordinary Chinese people, and when the name "China" drops, this is representing the Chinese people in the eyes of ordinary Chinese people.

So IF the hypothesis of that the Chinese government really intended to use the Western MSM to fuel hatred towards the West if true, then the problem in my opinion still lies at the problematic bias Western MSM style of reporting.

Also my own experiences are that there is not a real obvious anti-West reporting program going on. Chinese media (Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland) simply need to report "the truth" and accounts of what happened in the world affairs, and you can be almost quaranteed that most of the Non-Western World population will have bad taste about the Western World, lead by Dubya.

In my opinion what Rudd did is actually the best way to get the West and China much closer. He went at the peak of the intense anti-China/Olympics debates in the world to Beijing as planned. And gave a speech IN MANDARIN (aka Chinese official language) to a conference room full of young Chinese students, many who will be the future leaders. Made jokes in Mandarin, and dared to address his concern in public about the human rights (unfounded or not, this is not the point now), and about other and whatsover stuff, but at the same time clearly stated that a Boycott of any kind will only pull two cultures aparts instead of getting it closer. By showing respect to the Chinese public (Some officials have to criticize Rudd for his "comments"), the Chinese people see this, hear this and will know, and could start to think hey not all the West (white) people (politicians and common) are that bad. I believe if Rudd can put a bit more efforts, then Australia might be one of the best and ideal country to get the West and East closer to each other. I would suggest the Chinese leaders to utilize this relatively practical and down to Earth Australian. A guy who digged into someone's else culture and know the best way how to touch the heart of his people and another culture's people.










[edit on 11/4/08 by IchiNiSan]

reply to post by IchiNiSan


Really seems like a catch 22 to me, Ichi. The Chinese are getting angry, because they are too sensitive to world criticism, yet they shut out foreign journalists and leave what is going on in Tibet to our imaginations. We in turn criticize the Chinese government, and they use that criticism to fire up the people against the west. America has been criticized by the world for just about 8 years now, it doesn't make me angry at the world. I see hypocrisy all around, it's just human nature I guess. Why are the Chinese people taking it so personal? Are you saying, the only way to avoid all this, is to just let the PRC go about their business as usual, and make sure not to say anything that might upset them? Sorry, it's just not going to happen.

reply to post by 27jd


Personally I do believe we had and have a public relation issue, and should not have sent out the foreign reporters out of Tibet. The local authorities have tried to keep the only one accreditted Foreign reporter from the The Economist in Tibet during the riots. After his official period was over he was sent away immediately. However, this is the ONLY foreign reporter who gave at least some quite some objective reports and interviews which were very much in line of what the Chinese state reported. Now, I said it before, Why the heck we had sent everyone away, tourists? fine we have to protect them (especially those who were Japanese and treated as Han Chinese by Tibetans). Reporters? It's their own risk to stay there, it's not like that the world haven't seen worse and have seen reporters died in duty (for whatever reasons). Did we had anything to hide, according to the Chinese authorities, no, and according to all these numerous Foreign (and local) eyewitnesses accounts and records, and by the only accreditted Economist reporter also not that much. So what was the big deal? We could have as well let everyone stay in Tibet. Fine, we mistrust the Western Bias of being bias, but come on, if we sent them away, they will dip their pen in blood even deeper anyhow and use even more imaginations. In the case that we have to use a bit more force (without deadly weapons and a lot of intimidation) to crack-down a violent riot, fine to me as well if it is being reported, it's not like that the world has not seen that eleswhere before, even the Western need to fall back to more force if the riots turn out to become too violent. To protect innocents from dying I am of opinion that we are allowed to use as much force as we want, and if that is being reported, who cares, because again, the reporters who not objective anyhow (many) will write anti-China articles anyhow.

As for why the Chinese people take it personally, well the Western MSM is giving the Chinese MSM (In mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas media) to dip their pens in blood as well. Hong Kong TVB had broadcasted a short brand new documentary about the bias/wrong Western MSM reporting, I am talking about one of the most viewed Chinese spoken (in Cantonese and Mandarin) in Hong Kong, overseas and many parts of Mainland China. Guess what will happen. So we are actually rapidly going into a negative spiral that is hard to overcome. That's why we should embrace people who are willing to cement the China/West relations. Rudd is a guy who shows you that the Chinese public is not deaf to hear criticism and people will respect him. This is because the Chinese people see that he had spent efforts in learning the history of China, understanding the culture, and like I said before only by learning someone's else language you can understand the people more. The Chinese saw that Rudd can speak Chinese so this makes a whole world difference listening to such a guy instead of listening to Bush's historical speeches or Sarzoky's exotic French.

To me it's no use to just simply post and criticize about this and that, we are living in a world full of double-standards and hypocricy, nobody is a saint, none of the systems in the world (including China) is perfect, but I dislike that people are jumping on board and start to criticize for the criticizing, protesting for the protesting, to me that will way too often backfire in cultures which holds different norms and values, we should understand these cultures first and what is really touching people's heart in these culture and then give CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM.

reply to post by IchiNiSan


IchiNiSan...I think that many chinese can read between the lines of the corruption and propaganda that spews forth from the government, we here in the west do the same thing, we are very good at seeking out the truth regardless of what our leaders are saying. The issues here are the ill treatment of Tibetans. There is too much evidence of serious human rights violations committed by your government for any of us to easily shrug them off in pursuit of friendly relations with China. I know that even if you wanted to protest on behalf of any minority group under the rule of china you would be risking what freedoms you may have. As an American I can assure you that I do not buy what the media states as gospel truth... so our media can and has been bias, but there is still this little problem of human rights violations committed against Tibetans.

Originally posted by Witness2008
reply to post by IchiNiSan

 

IchiNiSan...I think that many chinese can read between the lines of the corruption and propaganda that spews forth from the government, we here in the west do the same thing, we are very good at seeking out the truth regardless of what our leaders are saying. The issues here are the ill treatment of Tibetans. There is too much evidence of serious human rights violations committed by your government for any of us to easily shrug them off in pursuit of friendly relations with China. I know that even if you wanted to protest on behalf of any minority group under the rule of china you would be risking what freedoms you may have. As an American I can assure you that I do not buy what the media states as gospel truth... so our media can and has been bias, but there is still this little problem of human rights violations committed against Tibetans.

Witness, you are coming to a very good point. "Chinese can read between lines", we, even the lower educated know it. This is why so many Chinese can also read between the lines of Western MSM. Anyhow, the most important over here and why you (and westerners) and me (and Chinese) will have a difficulty on how to come closer regarding the Tibetan so-called human rights issues, is that the Chinese overall speaking have a different culture, different norms and values. We value the so-called human rights differently, so I sincerely believe that the majority only cared if there were any innocent civilians being murdered during the Lahsa riot rather than what the police did. While in the West the opposite is more true. From a Chinese eyes of viewing the case is that it seems like westerners will accept the killing of innocents civilians rather of condemning the violence of the riots. Why? Well if you read thread titles in ATS we can already use it as a good example. "Massacre in Tibet.", "Chinese security forces swarm Tibet" and the like, while WHEN the thread were created it was NOT EVEN CLEAR what actually happened to the outside world, not in the West, not in Asia, not in China, maybe not even in Beijing.

Because values are different, and the Chinese norms of what is human-rights is different, certain so-called human rights issues in the eyes of westerners are simply to a Chinese very weird. Chinese would be ok with the police "cracking down" any violent riots. Chinese would be fine with death penalties of committed criminals, and will be even fine with selling whatever is still useful of that criminal. However, even more important for you or any westerner to understand is that Chinese people do change, people do change, norms and value do change, cultures is continuing developing. Just hoping that more people will understand that this can only be achieved if you show respect towards another culture, and understand what will touch the hearts of the people and what will backfire.

We have now two good extreme examples:
Case 1) Merkel from far away condemned the human rights violations and publicly announced boycotting the opening ceremony.
Case 2) Rudd went to Beijing, addressed the human rights issues in front of hundreds Chinese students and media, but explained why and expressed why he believes he is against a boycott.

I don't think I need to say much more which case has not helped the Tibet issue at all and even backfiring, and which case actually helped the Tibet issue and have set some people to think and even understand why some westerners are thinking in that "weird" way.

Noteworthy to say is what I had expected that people will start to be less enthuastic to post the Torch relay from Argentina on.

Torch gets warm welcome in Argentina

Peaceful Olympic torch run in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) -- Runners surrounded by rows of security carried the Olympic flame past thousands of jubilant Argentines on Friday in the most trouble-free torch relay in nearly a week.

People showered the parade route with confetti as banks, government offices and businesses took an impromptu half-day holiday for the only Latin American stop on the flame's five-continent journey from Ancient Olympia to the Beijing Games. They are scheduled for August 8 through 24.

I hope that this international torch relay in Non-Western world could be seen in the Western world, and the Western world can think why we don't see similar chaos and chicken-without-head reporting as when the Torch is in London, Paris and San Fransisco. We are talking about thousands of Argentinians celebrating a torch relay, same like in Kazahkstan, Turkey and Russia. Protests are also seen on the spot, but obviously we see that the overly majority of the people in Argentina, Kazahkstan, Turkey and Russia see the world much more different than a Briton, French man, American, or let's say The West.

About 500 China supporters in red windbreakers handed out by organizers waved banners and denounced the political protests that disrupted the flame's last stops in London, Paris and San Francisco.

"We are here to celebrate the Olympics," said Shao Long Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese immigrant. "It's a great source of pride for us that the Olympics are being held in Beijing and that the torch is passing through Buenos Aires."

As for the protesters nearby, he said: "They're using sports to deliver a political message, and that's not right."

And seriously again, why it need a Chinese patriot to post this CNN (Western MSM) article in this Thread initially opened to boycott the Olympics? Where are those boycott supporters, who previously were jumping on board to race who can post the trouble-some Olympics anti-China news articles here as fast as possible? Where are the Argentina "torch relay" new thread's breaking news, like we have seen about Paris, London?


Besides this article, maybe for the interested ones you might be interested to read another article:

onlinejournal.com...

Is the CIA behind the China-bashing Olympics protests?
By Larry Chin
Online Journal Associate Editor

Around the world, Beijing�s hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games has become the target of unprecedented, well-orchestrated and extremely hostile mass protests.

Meanwhile, geostrategic realities, and historical and current parapolitical fact, suggest that the protesters and passionate activists (in time-honored form) have once again become the willing dupes, propaganda shills, and street bullies for �causes� created, fronted, and pushed by Anglo-American intelligence agencies (CIA, British intelligence, etc.) that continue to target a government (this time Beijing), in a host of long-term subversion and sabotage plans.

Despite the so-called human right issues, I sincerely believe evil powers are in play who are orchestrating these anti-China propaganda. I do believe that these evil powers feel they failed to touch the Non-Western World though.

Yet another article regarding Hu Jintao's first public comment on the Tibet protests:

ap.google.com...

China's Hu: Tibet Is an Internal Matter

By WILLIAM FOREMAN – 15 minutes ago

BOAO, China (AP) — Chinese President Hu Jintao took a hard line Saturday in his first remarks on the recent unrest in Tibet, saying the matter is an internal affair that directly threatens Chinese sovereignty.

Hu's comments to visiting Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came at a meeting on the sidelines of a regional economic forum in the southern province of Hainan.

"Our conflict with the Dalai clique is not an ethnic problem, not a religious problem, nor a human rights problem," the official Xinhua News Agency quoted Hu as saying, referring to supporters of Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing blames for fomenting the unrest. "It is a problem either to safeguard national unification or to split the motherland."

Well that is exactly my opinion too. (sarcasm/ Oh, yes, as an honary alumni of the Chinese Intelligence and Public Relation Academy, I am of course paid a huge sum to say that /sarcasm) Seriously, this is also the feelings among many many many many and over majority of the Chinese ordinary people.

The resolution sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Beijing to "end its crackdown on nonviolent Tibetan protesters," along with cultural, religious, economic and linguistic "repression."

Interesting to see a resolution between passed by the American House of Reps, and calling the "protests" in Tibet NONVIOLENT, while the whole world know that the protest is by far nonviolent and even EXTREMELY VIOLENT. This is the kind of stuff which is backfiring and will NEVER help the cause IF the American politicians are really trying to help.



[edit on 12/4/08 by IchiNiSan]

Originally posted by biggie smalls

Japan doesn't even want to get involved with them, how wonderful:

Japan says no to Chinese torch guards: reports

Japan will not allow the squad of Chinese flame guards to intervene with the Beijing Olympic torch's progress when it arrives in a Japanese city this month, the national police head was quoted as saying on Friday.

"We should not violate the principle that the Japanese police will firmly maintain security," Kyodo news agency quoted Shinya Izumi, head of the National Public Safety Commission, as saying.

"We do not know what position the people who escorted the relay are in," Izumi was quoted as saying. "If they are for the consideration of security, it is our role.

Chinese state media have reported that the "flame protection squad", consisting of some 70 members of China's People's Armed Police, has been employed by the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee to safeguard the fire for 24 hours a day.

CPAP is involved with the olympic relay. Great. And the Chinese wonder why people are getting pissed off?

Wow.

That`s an excellent example of how the western media is distorting news stories on this issue.

Here`s the original (English) story, as it ran here:
mdn.mainichi.jp...

Note the following:

National Public Safety Commission Chairman Shinya Izumi indicated on Friday that Japan will not welcome "security runners" from China to accompany the Olympic torch when it arrives in Nagano if their role is to serve as guards.

China plans to send two runners to accompany the Olympic torch when it arrives in Japan later this month.

TWO RUNNERS!

Meanwhile, reuters is on about a phalanx of seventy, a squad of guards....

nope... no sensationalist reporting going on here...

Originally posted by khunmoon

The answer to the question lies in the word "truth". Only now are many Chinese getting the chance to debate the "truth" of foreign media publications (and only those not in Chinese) because only now are they getting a point of view on some important topics at odds with the one provided by the state-controlled media.

That article was written to save face for the BBC. It had been harping on about all how much better the western media is compared to Chinas media but once it was "unblocked" there was a huge outcry in China about the quality of the journalism or lack of it. When the Chinese population saw it they had boycotted the site hence their initial argument was discredited

He also suggests that the Chinese are not being told the "truth" which is absurd since his version of "truth" is basically British colonial history in Asia. What is he actually debating here, legally Britain was the one which signed off Tibet to China at the same time trying to colonize it themselves

Nice little insight given
"The BBC condescending attitude, biased reporting, & institutionalised racialism towards China & all things Chinese shine through yet again. There are literally millions ( repeat, millions)of Chinese living & working in the West. And in many instances, Chinese families have been living in the West for generations. We do not need the BBC to tell us what is biased reporting & what is fair. We know & recognised biased news reports when it happens. Likewise, the Chinese living on the Mainland are not media ignoramus. Biased reporting is recognisable, whatever shape, colour or language it takes.

Please note again- the Chinese living on mainland China are not media Ignoramus.


Chinese living, visiting & working in the West also recognised anti-Chinese behaviour in politicians when they see one. Politicians like Nancy Polesi (US congress woman) even ignored her own constituency supporters in the US ( & her native California state- many of whom are ethnic Chinese) & continue to spout her anti-Chinese, anti-China hatred. ( By the way, is’nt Polesi an Italian surname? connotations with union bosses & other undesirable traits spring to mind). Wrapping oneself in the Star & Stripes does not automatically confer you with greater rights & patriotism over any other ethnic groups in America. Neither does it give you carte-blanche right to incite racial hatred anywhere in the world (neither here in US nor over there in China). Remember the old adage –‘Patriotism can be the last refuge of the Scoundrel’.

In this modern day & age of instantaneous communication, the BBC seems to think the Chinese are still living in darkness. Hence these poor unfortunate Chinese need enlightenment by way of BBC biased news reports ? If the BBC needs any reminding - the Chinese in the West & in China do understand English – thank you very much. They also know when it is raining and when someone is pissing on their backs. The torrents of internet replies in response to Western biased news reports are sufficient proof ( as if proof is needed) that the BBC was biased in its reporting.

Anti-China politicians like Nancy Polesi helped to engineer the Congressional Gold Medal award for the Dalai Lama. When will Nancy Polesi help to secure a Congressional Gold Medal for a native American Indian? Or highlight the case for the Lakota Sioux Nation Independence struggle? Or the Hispanic Aztlan movement & their struggle? Or Hawaii Independence Movement ? ... the list goes on & on. Perhaps these indigenous peoples, unlike Tibetan monks, are children of a lesser god – hence they are not worthy of any support from the BBC, much less from Nancy Polesi.

The BBC remains strangely silent on all the above points.

Biased reporting can take many shapes, sizes & colours, but it is still biased reporting by virtue of omission (i.e. completely ignored) or by commission (i.e. stage-managed) and all the subtle shades & variations in between. The BBC, through years of Practice, has become rather adept at this subtle art form.

On a less sombre note, let us give credit where credit is due. On balance, the BBC can be an Institution for greater understanding between nations & peoples of the world. However, the BBC must NOT jump to the conclusion that the 1.3billion Chinese are not free to think & judge for themselves because auntie BBC is not there to hold their hands. On the contrary, the Chinese on the Mainland & millions of overseas Chinese worldwide are fully aware & fully capable of making their own judgment.

The great majority of ethnic Chinese live harmoniously & prosperously in the West. Millions of Chinese have settled down peacefully & successfully in the West. Indeed a great number of them have integrated & married with Western White spouses. And their children and grandchildren are successfully getting on with life.

On the whole, most ethnic Chinese encounter little overt racial discrimination in the West. However, covert & institutionalised racialism is much more difficult to detect. On the surface, the vast majority of Westerners are not anti-Chinese. However, there is a very tiny minority who are blatantly prejudiced against the Chinese – the Nancy Pelosi (US Congress woman) of this world, Kate Hoey ( British MP), Prince Charles & other rabid anti-China anti-Chinese haters like Richard Gere.

However, these people, by virtue of their high political & media profiles, can cause immense damage to the rest of us – both Chinese & Westerners – if responsible News media like the BBC , wittingly or unwittingly, supply them with the oxygen of publicity.

The BBC, as an powerful media institution, must guard against institutionalised racialism & biased racial tendencies.


Parsimonious excuses proffered by the BBC such as ‘tight media control’ over the Chinese masses/public by the ruling Communist autocracy justify biased reporting on the part of BBC only serve to add insult to the injury suffered by the Chinese.Such lame excuses
serve only to insult everyone’s intelligence.

At this juncture, a timely paraphrase from Shakespeare seems most appropriate: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves” - stars being PRC censorship. Has the BBC itself being guilty of committing the sins of the 3 H’s – Hypocrisy, Hubris & Hatred – on others ??
It would indeed be a humbling revelation for the BBC to discover that auntie Beeb’s own camel cannot see its own hump.


In contrast to millions upon millions of ethnic Chinese who can speak & use English language proficiently, the reverse, however, cannot be said about ethnic Whites being able to read, write & understand Mandarin Chinese. If there is a worry about media communication, surely this must be it- the Inability of Westerners to converse/understand Mandarin Chinese - & not the supposed Inabilities of the BBC to gain access to or obtain information from the Chinese masses.

It can also help by employing more ethnic UK Chinese News-readers, ethnic UK Chinese reporters, managers, producers etc.. at all levels of the BBC as they are currently woefully under-represented in the BBC. The BBC must avoid the temptation to employ only a token number of UK Chinese as mouth-piece auto-cue readers. Any such cosmetic ‘trophy’ news reader will only reinforce current negative perception regarding BBC biased tendencies (this sentiment being shared by other racial groups too. BBC was once famously described as being ‘hideously’ white.).


Even amongst the current crop of ethnic White correspondents only a handful - perhaps a score?- are proficient in the use of Mandarin Chinese. BBC correspondent kelly Gracie is a note-worthy example of a good mandarin Chinese speaker. The world desperately needs more Mandarin speaker like her.

The BBC can actively encourage more cultural exchanges between the UK & China, encourage student & family exchanges, provide media support & sponsorships of all types & descriptions & increase all round awareness of each other language, cultures & lifestyles.

In conclusion, we must all – including the BBC – strive for better understanding & goodwill between all Chinese and Westerners. This is especially true amongst the younger generations, as the future belong to them. Let us not allow blind racial prejudice & biased reporting deter us from achieving our common shared goals of global peace, equity, prosperity & harmony for all. ""

[edit on 13-4-2008 by chinawhite]

Strangely this has not been posted

Here is something interesting. A Tibetan attacking a para-Olympian. In any language that is ASSAULT. Why hasn't that received wide scale coverage in this thread even with the mass of postings of articles

China rages over attack on disabled torch bearer

BEIJING (Reuters) - A wheelchair-bound Chinese torch bearer has rocketed to national fame after fending off protesters in Paris, becoming a symbol of China's defiance of global demonstrations backing Tibet.

Protesters denouncing Chinese policy in Tibet threw themselves at Jin. Most were wrestled away by police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away.

Her look of fierce determination as she shielded the torch, captured in snapshots of the scene, has now spread throughout China, inflaming simmering public anger at the protests.

Chinese people are generally enthusiastic about hosting the Olympics and many have backed the government's claims that recent riots and protests in Tibet were the work of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, seeking to upset the Games. The Dalai Lama has repeatedly rejected that claim.

"Hosting the Olympics is such a good thing for our country, so why do they want to ruin it?"

uk.news.yahoo.com...




[edit on 13-4-2008 by chinawhite]

reply to post by chinawhite


Strangely the paramilitary "Beijing Olympic Games Sacred Flame Protection Unit" is missing in this incident or do i fail to see the blue tracksuits on any of the pictures related to that incident ? Where are they ?

Could it be, that they "accidentally" failed to show up at this specific incident or are they just incapable of "protecting" the flame ?

Smells like a propaganda incident, especially with the special care and compassion given to disabled persons.

reply to post by chinawhite


someone posted a link and some of us raised this up, but nobody really looked into it, so I was kinda waiting for Biggie and others to start posting the Torch relay coverage of Argentina, Tanzania. But seems like they are on a weekend break.

Like I raised it up, even in ATS many are selecting the things to post which will help their "non-prejudiced and unbiassed" opinions. And so many of them fail to see that these protests have not helped and actually have only backfired and awakened many ordinary Chinese people. So to some extend I am grateful for the Western MSM to show the Chinese people what I have known for close to 30 years.

I want to start off about posting this video



Funny enough, the big mass media networks did not give back ground information about Tibet but only the issue and people had trouble pointing out where Tibet was. Coincidence?

Originally posted by 27jd
After probably drilling into your heads, over and over, lies about how much the west hates China and is bent on bringing it down, they open only sites they see as critical to China as if to prove their point

Maybe that is correct if you discount the WORLDWIDE Chinese resent living and working in the western countries. They have already seen and read and saw the western media and their children were brought up in the schools which don't teach this history so its up to them to come up with a history for themselves.

The Chinese media did not create this situation, the internet blogs of China did. If you can thing me a internet link which shows the Chinese media putting the thoughts in Chinese heads than I will eat my cake. Xinhua or other supposed government mouth pieces did not point out the CNN cropping of pictures it was people like me and other Chinese who read media all over the world

BTW: The BBC and CNN was unblocked BEFORE the Tibetan riots occured and the biased western media to show case Chinas freedom. This counters the argument that the Chinese only unblocked it just to show a few articles written

Here is the media reporting the event after it occurs. One of the reasons for those internet brigades you keep reporting on is to stop policitcal fanaticism. Do you realize that the internet boards was calling the Chinese government "weak" for their supposed lack of response

THE Chinese public is venting its spleen online over inaccurate reports about the Tibet riots by some Western media groups.

Since March 20, various inaccurate photos that claimed to be of the Lhasa riots on March 14 by Western media were put on the Internet by some Chinese students studying abroad.

The collection comprised 11 pictures and footage broadcast by Cable News Network, the British Broadcasting Corporation and other foreign media where Netizens highlighted wrong captions accompanying the images.

A picture on CNN's Website showed people running in front of a military truck. In the original picture, mobs throwing stones at the truck were cropped out by the United States-based network.

www.shanghaidaily.com...

I wonder what the PRC has up it's sleeve, and why it's trying to create such hate in China for the west....

The west have done the job for the PRC government if that was their plan. Its funny, but the west seems to think they are on the moral high ground when it comes to issues like this but its the West which is creating hatred towards China. When has there ever been a positive issue published in the BBC and CNN regarding Chinas development.

Western news papers have mis-judged the Chinese population and the respect the Chinese give to the west and acted as if any reporting will get sympathy from the supposedly "shackled" Chinese population which will finally see the light. Strangely enough, the missionaries of years gone by took the same attitude being on the moral high ground yet look down upon the "native" population

At first glance, China's recent crackdown in Tibet looks like a familiar storyline: a dictatorship represses its people. And of course that's part of the reality—as it often is in China. But on this issue, the communist regime is not in opposition to its people. The vast majority of Chinese have little sympathy for the Tibetan cause. To the extent that we can gauge public opinion in China and among its diaspora, ordinary Chinese are, if anything, critical of the Beijing government for being too easy on the Tibetans. The real struggle here is between a nationalist majority and an ethnic and religious minority looking to secure its rights.

In these circumstances, a boycott of the Olympics would have precisely the opposite effect that is intended. The regime in Beijing would become only more defensive and stubborn. The Chinese people would rally around the flag and see the West as trying to humiliate China in its first international moment of glory. (There are many suspicions that the United States cannot abide the prospect of a rising China.) For most Chinese, the Games are about the world's giving China respect, rather than bolstering the Communist Party's legitimacy.

For leaders to boycott the Games' opening ceremonies alone is an odd idea. Is the president of the United States supposed to travel to Beijing to attend the women's water-polo finals instead? (Britain's Gordon Brown, for instance, has said he'll attend the closing, but not the opening ceremonies.) Picking who will go to which event is trying to have it both ways, voting for the boycott before you vote against it. Some want to punish China for its association with the Sudanese government, which is perpetrating atrocities in Darfur. But to boycott Beijing's Games because it buys oil from Sudan carries the notion of responsibility too far. After all, the United States has much closer ties to Saudi Arabia, a medieval monarchy that has funded Islamic terror. Should the world boycott America for this relationship?

China's attitude toward Tibet is wrong and cruel, but, alas, not that unusual. Other nations, especially developing countries, have taken tough stands against what they perceive as separatist forces. A flourishing democracy like India has often responded to such movements by imposing martial law and suspending political and civil rights. The Turks for many decades crushed all Kurdish pleas for linguistic and ethnic autonomy. The democratically elected Russian government of Boris Yeltsin responded brutally to Chechen demands. Under Yeltsin and his successor, Vladimir Putin, also elected, the Russian Army killed about 75,000 civilians in Chechnya, and leveled its capital. These actions were enthusiastically supported within Russia. It is particularly strange to see countries that launched no boycotts while Chechnya was being destroyed—and indeed welcomed Russia into the G8—now so outraged about the persecution of minorities. (In comparison, estimates are that over the past 20 years, China has jailed several hundred people in Tibet.)
www.newsweek.com...

reply to post by Phil J. Fry


This is getting absurd, and you might need to look into the case by yourself first before starting to make these kinds of comments. These are exactly the mistrusted and missplaced comments by a prejudiced and biased westerner who are making the Chinese people all over the world feel being mistreated in an unfair and unjusticed way.

You go ahead and cheer this honorable guy who decided to assualt this amputee. And cheer for all the other guys who were also trying to attack this one-leg hero. Great job you are doing.

Protesters denouncing Chinese policy in Tibet threw themselves at Jin. Most were wrestled away by police but at least one reached her wheelchair and tried to wrench the torch away.

Go to this link which took me only less than 1 minute to google up:
news.bbc.co.uk...

Look at picture 4 and 8, two pictures which show you that the Chinese guards seem to be not always present! At least not visible in the pictures!


Picture 4


Picture 8

DENY IGNORANCE
Denying ignorancy is NOT being closed-minded ignorant and disregarding anything which is not in line with your viewpoints as propaganda or disinformation.



[edit on 13/4/08 by IchiNiSan]