- Lies and deception by those in high places are deeply
rooted in the culture of China and go back centuries. Even the time honored
traditions of saving face, and kow-towing are not mere exercises in politeness
but institutionalized dishonesty to protect the power elite in China. Such
forced obeisance does not, in fact, provide honor to the leader who demands
it but instantly discredits him. The arrogance with which Chinese leaders
insist that Eastern man and culture is superior to the West is in large
part born out of their disrespect for Western cultural and religious allegiance
to honesty. The Chinese political and philosophical elite have a pernicious
pride in their ability to use deception for political and economic gain.
Even more surprising, however, is the West's tendency to play as if they
actually believe Chinese lies. Apparently, the West and its media are too
hungry for access, influence and profits in China to confront this chronic
dishonesty.
-
- The globalist leaders themselves are, of course, purposely
playing the fool in China, allowing China to keep up its self-aggrandizing
illusions of superiority. Chinese Communist leaders snicker, thinking the
West is full of fools--all too willing to buy from China the goods that
fund the growing Chinese military machine aimed at the West. But in the
end, we have to question who is fooling who. The Chinese, like the Russians,
fail to realize that the Anglo-Americans are playing stupid in the ultimate
high stakes game of triggering the next war. While the Western globalists
do intend to allow America as a sovereign nation to be destroyed, they
have no intention of losing the ultimate war for control of the New World
Order. The purpose of this week's Brief is not to discuss this broad strategic
game (outlined in "Strategic Threats" on my website) it is to
help explain the pathetic display of Western fawning over China in the
Olympic games.
-
- Tim Johnson of McClatchy Newspapers gives an excellent
overview of the controversy and permissiveness of the IOC in awarding the
games to this totalitarian nation. [my comments in brackets] "As princes,
kings and presidents look on, China will fill the sky over its capital
with an awesome display of fireworks and make its case to the world that
it was no mistake to award Beijing the 2008 Summer Olympics [Of course
it was a mistake, but clearly both the West and China are out to justify
this pitiful example of political chicanery]. Some 80 heads of state and
government, including President Bush, will witness Friday's opening ceremony,
a 210-minute spectacle of national pride and high tension. Few hearts will
be pounding more fiercely than those of China's leaders, who feel immense
pressure to show that their huge nation with its authoritarian one-party
political system can host an impeccable Olympics. China considers the games
a milestone marking its emergence as a major global power [The Chinese
have always been obsessed with demonstrating superiority over the West-at
the expense of the poor, the environment, and anything that gets in the
way].
-
- "...Around Beijing, sleek new high-rises, swank
restaurants with European chefs, new subway lines and high-priced art galleries
ensure the Chinese capital a place on the list of the world's most cosmopolitan
cities. Workers toil to erect fences around building sites so that tourists
arriving for the games won't see the mess [and the totalitarian uprooting
of the poor to make way for this "progress"] behind the building
boom, and in some ways the fences symbolize China's public and private
faces. Secrecy, political control and punishment for those who oppose aspects
of the Communist Party's policies remain core aspects of China's modern
identity.
-
- "As the games unfold through Aug. 24, there will
be many subplots to the sprint for gold medals, some related to the control
that China exerts over its people... For the first time in nearly six decades,
China is opening its doors to massive numbers of foreign journalists--and
it's already begun to backtrack on pledges to give them unfettered freedom
during the Olympic period. Foreign journalists arriving for the games complain
that China retains a chokehold on the Internet. Sites for human rights
group such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch remain blocked,
as do some news sites, such as the British Broadcasting Corp.'s Chinese-language
site and the newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer, and some foreign university
sites. A spokesman for the Beijing games, Sun Weide, said that reporters
would have no access to some Web sites, such as those hosted by the banned
spiritual sect Falun Gong, suggesting that those sites are irrelevant to
their coverage. 'Our promise was that journalists would be able to use
the Internet for their work during the Olympic Games,' Sun told reporters.
[He's fudging on the truth. This new restrictive interpretation of "unfettered
access" is a completely new fabrication. Reuters reported that "the
International Olympic Committee quietly agreed to some of the limitations,
according to Kevan Gosper, chairman of the IOC press commission."
Of course they did. There are no worse hypocrites on the planet than the
Olympic committee elites.]
-
- "China has also sharply curbed the issuance of visas,
on the theory that fewer foreigners mean less potential trouble. As a side
benefit, the stands will fill with Chinese rooting for the home team. A
crackdown on bars, music halls and some restaurants with outdoor dining
areas--some places have been closed or ordered to move seats indoors--has
some Beijing residents griping about the 'no fun' Olympics."
-
- The Chinese have an insidious way of denying reality.
As a case in point, the polluted air around Beijing just won't clear up,
despite totalitarian methods by the government to force millions of cars
off the road and shut down whole factories during the games. It's only
poetic justice that the environment refuses to comply with China's short-sighted
and temporary efforts to put on a clean face. As McClatchy Newspapers reported,
"a defiant gray pall hung over Beijing on Thursday, one day ahead
of the official start of the Summer Olympic Games, and the city's air-pollution
index continued to inch up." Then comes the almost laughable Chinese
response: "Chinese officials, the head of the International Olympic
Committee and some athletes tried to play down concerns about air pollution.
IOC Chairman Jacques Rogge called the haze 'fog' and said that it wouldn't
harm athletes." Long distance runners know better, but they will be
under heavy pressure by their own governments to run anyway. If governments
care a wit about the health of their athletes they would be demanding a
change in venue.
-
- Then, there is the ever-present issue of the Communist
government creating factory-style sports schools to demonstrate superiority
over the West. Sadly, just as the West refrained from exposing the professional
nature of Soviet athletes using the Olympics as a propaganda tool, the
Chinese have a professional system of state sponsored athlete development
that takes this unfair advantage to a whole new level.
-
- Pallavi Aiyar is the China correspondent for the Hindu
and author of Smoke and Mirrors: An Experience of China. He reported this
week about China's sports machine. "When China hosts the Summer Olympic
Games this month it will be going for gold. Not only does the country see
the event as a golden opportunity to showcase the achievements of its monumental
modernization drive, but also as a chance to emerge as the Olympics' top
gold medal winner. The fact that it stands a more than sporting chance
of achieving its goal is all the more astonishing, given that China made
its Olympics debut only in 1984 in Los Angeles.
-
- "China does not make public what it spends on sports
programs, but it is estimated to be several hundred million US dollars
annually. Xie Qionghuan, former deputy secretary general of the Chinese
Olympic Committee added that a clever Olympics strategy has targeted sports
'suitable to the physiques and talents of East Asian peoples.' He gave
the examples of events such as table tennis, badminton and gymnastics,
in which China has come to excel. These are sports that require quick reflexes
and flexibility rather than raw physical strength and stamina. Some critics
have claimed that China's success at the Olympics is somewhat undermined
by the fact of its having targeted 'soft sports,' underdeveloped in other
countries, like shooting and taekwondo as well as women's sports in general.
About 63% of China's medals in Athens were won by women - excluding mixed
sports - compared with about 40% for the US and Russia. China's relentless
drive for Olympic glory means that even this is changing.
-
- "China's sports system is adapted from that of the
former Soviet Union. It relies on an extensive network of scouts and coaches
who ferret out the best sporting talent from the country's vast pool of
youngsters studying in primary schools. Potential future champions are
given detailed physical exams to test whether their bone structure and
bodies are likely to develop in a way appropriate for a certain sport:
height is key for volleyball, strength for weightlifting, agility for gymnastics.
Those chosen are then funneled into a pyramid-like sports training structure.
At the top of the pyramid are some 300 elite sports training schools nationwide
where 46,000 youngsters aged six to 18 undergo intensive daily training.
Below this tier of top schools are another 3,000-odd, level-2 specialist
sports schools with about 400,000 children in training. Finally at the
base, 6 million youth hone their skills at 11,400 regular schools that
also happen to specialize in one or another sporting category.
-
- "In Athens, students from Shishahai [one of China's
top athletic schools] alone won five gold medals, three in individual and
two in team sports. Specializing in six Olympic sports - table tennis,
badminton, gymnastics, volleyball, boxing and taekwondo - the school has
an annual budget of about $30 million. Two-thirds of this comes from the
government. A visit to the cavernous gymnastics training hall revealed
row after row of toddlers, some as young as five. Looking cute in leotards,
many had missing baby teeth. They lined up obediently, their expressions
neither sad nor happy, for hours of bone-aching exercises. Others hung
from rings or cart-wheeled perfectly across long mats. The coaches were
stern. There seemed to be few allowances made for their age or the fact
that at five and six they had virtually no say in the decision to enter
training.
-
- "'Sacrifices are necessary to be a champion,' said
Liu Hong Bin, the school's director, by way of explanation for the harsh
regime. However, the emphasis on sacrifice for the glory of the country
to the detriment of the personal fulfillment and on occasion even health
of individual athletes is perhaps the most trenchant criticism of China's
sports machine. For many athletes, playing through injuries is standard
practice. The celebrated diver Hu Jia for example will be participating
in the Olympics despite damage to both retinas of his eyes. Champions also
face tremendous pressure from the state not to retire even if they feel
burnt out. Sports historian Zhao Yu holds that the government-led nature
of sports in China leads to an over-emphasis on medals and winning, while
developing grassroots love of sports remains neglected."
-
- China is desperate to show its own people that an authoritarian
command economy and command sports program can outdo the West. In some
ways it can, but at what price? The human costs of China's victims is carefully
hidden from view, and the establishment press is decidedly uncourageous
in attempting to expose it.
-
- China's horrendous record of human rights violations
is the real issue, and was brought into focus this week as three American
Christian activists were arrested for protesting for religious freedom
in Tiananmen Square. China was hoping that through visa restrictions and
close scrutiny of all Olympic guests, these pesky protests could be avoided--or
more to the point, to avoid showing the world that China still arrests
dissidents. It is obvious that China's human rights record has not improved
because of the games and will not in the future.
-
- Speaking in Bangkok prior to heading for the opening
ceremonies President Bush said in response, "America stands in firm
opposition to China's detention of political dissidents and human rights
advocates and
- religious activists. We press for openness and justice
-- not to impose our beliefs but to allow the Chinese people to express
theirs." Talk is cheap. In fact, President Bush is proposing absolutely
no sanctions against China for the arrests. If he were serious he would
have abruptly cancelled his visit in protest.
-
- One also has to wonder if this sudden new rhetorical
"toughness" on China is part of a larger deception strategy.
On the same trip, Bush told the press, after meeting South Korea's President
Lee Myung-bak, that "human rights abuses inside the country [NK] still
exist and persist." Both the Chinese and the North Koreans are going
to be furious at this new show of talk from the US, especially after so
many secret and public assurances by Bush advisors that "it's only
talk." It probably still is. The world is fed up with the one-sided
display of pro-Chinese Olympic coverage and disgusted with the wanton shooting
of a civilian tourist by North Korean guards when she inadvertently strayed
over the line.
-
- The Olympic games have even distorted China's traditional
angry reactions to arms sales to Taiwan. Wu Zhong, the China editor of
Sun Wukong writes about the sudden but temporary subdued tone by China
over US arm sales to Taiwan. "Chinese leaders have repeatedly stressed
that Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in China-United States relations.
And US arms sales to what Beijing calls its 'renegade island' have always
been a potential tipping point in the delicate trilateral balance. In past
weeks, however, Beijing has played it decidedly cool. The government provided
little praise for recent reports claiming the George W Bush administration
was halting arms sales to Taiwan, and it refused to react furiously - as
it has always done the past - over subsequent reports that Washington would
resume selling advanced weapons to the island--a convenient explanation
is that Beijing does not want anything to jeopardize the Summer Olympic
Games which start on Friday."
-
- Both presidential candidates are also stacking their
staffs with pro-China hands, which tells us that it will be business as
usual with this evil empire under either party. Ken Silverstein of Harper's
Magazine documents this issue and concentrates on the media's attempt to
disguise these advisors in politically correct language [Source: Democracy
Now].
-
- "Many of the bipartisan experts who have advocated
so-called 'constructive engagement' with China are tied to major US multinational
corporations that profit heavily from the Chinese market... I started looking
at the campaign advisers, actually, to Barack Obama and Hillary--and John
McCain...what I discovered was that many of these advisers, not just advisers
on China policy,... worked for some of these international consulting firms
whose whole business model is to open up doors abroad [to china] for US
and other Western companies.
-
- "For example, in the case of China, you have a guy
named Jeffrey Bader, who is at the Brookings Institution [a Leftist, globalist
think tank], but who also has worked for Stonebridge International, which
is a big consulting firm headed by Sandy Berger, who used to be with the
Clinton administration and in fact who was primarily responsible for--
or one of the people primarily responsible for the big opening with China
under Clinton. Remember, Clinton came into office promising that he would
honor the spirit of Tiananmen Square and left having put into place permanent
normal trade relations with Beijing. Also, [there is] Ken Lieberthal, a
big advisor for Obama, who was the senior adviser to Clinton on China policy.
-
- "Now, it's fine if they want to acknowledge where
they work and let the listener or the viewer decide if this might influence
their point of view, but to put people on TV or on the radio and to simply
let them appear to be an independent observer, when in fact they have a
direct stake in and a close relationship with Beijing [is a form of deception].
Their business model actually requires them being on reasonably good terms
with Chinese government officials--you cannot open doors with Chinese government
officials on behalf of Western companies unless you are on good terms.
I mean, if they don't like you, if you say a lot of nasty things about
Tibet or human rights or anything else, then the Chinese government officials
that you need to help you in your business are not going to be there for
you.
-
- "Some of these advisers previously worked in government.
Now they may be off in the business--the private sector. Some of them are
going to end up going back into government, I'm quite sure of that. Sandy
Berger is a classic example. He started off in the private sector lobbying
for permanent normal trade relations for China. This is back in the '90s...
ten years ago, fifteen years ago, the US relationship with Beijing was
extremely heated. Millions and millions and millions of dollars were spent
by the business community to lobby for this policy [granting most favored
nation trading status to china]. And the Clinton administration reversed
itself, completely reversed itself, and decided that it would prioritize
[trade with China]--over human rights policy."
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- World Affairs Brief - Commentary and Insights on
a Troubled World
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- Copyright Joel Skousen. Partial quotations with attribution
permitted.
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