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To China, like it or not

Boycott out of line at this point

Rocky Mountain News

Published July 13, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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President Bush recently announced that he will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in Beijing next month, after much speculation that he might not. It's the right decision, although we certainly understand why some people disagree.

We reach this conclusion, incidentally, even though we strongly opposed letting China host the Olympics in the first place. A repressive regime should never be given such a stage on which to present itself to the world as respectable and normal. But what's done is done. China is no more repressive today than in the summer of 2001 when the International Olympics Committee made its decision; in some respects, in fact, it may be a more open society.

If the United States or other democracies intended to boycott the opening ceremonies, they should have announced as much before the IOC's decision.

The immediate issues motivating the boycott movement today are China's harsh crackdown in Tibet and its support of the brutal Sudanese regime, which engages in atrocities in Darfur. But such policies were entirely predictable (and in the case of Tibet, no different from multiple harsh crackdowns there in the past). So to repeat, where were the boycotters when the IOC was considering Beijing's bid?

The Bush administration didn't oppose granting China the Olympics even though the bid was considered at a time when China was still holding an American EP-3 surveillance plane, months after it was forced down and its crew taken hostage. How could the same administration that failed to protest then claim now that China's policies warrant a no-show by the president?

We hope Bush makes a statement at the Games drawing attention to those who suffer from China's policies. But to shun the opening ceremonies at this point would amount to pointless showboating, which he is wise to avoid.

Comments

  • July 13, 2008

    8:24 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    HolierThanThou writes:

    Pointless showboating?

    Now there's an interesting choice of words.

    Most American jobs in the manufacturing industries have been eliminated here and are now done in China. Do Rocky editors and publishers ever go shopping? Try to find the Made-in-USA label. I do. It's not easy. Most everything is Made-in-China.

    The USA is now an economic province of the People's Republic of China. Our Congress does not get to decide whether we go to war anymore. They can promise anything but the decision comes from China because they are the ones who finance our federal deficit, which is what we use to pay for the war.

    This isn't about whether or not Bush or any American politician has a choice to snub the Chinese for their repressive behavior. They have no choice. The Chinese make the rules. They either kowtow or China shuts off funding for their pet projects like the war in Iraq.

    Bush had better watch his mouth and stick to the script, else he'll find himself pulling on more locked doors and waiting for the janitor to show up with the key.

  • July 13, 2008

    12:20 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Michael writes:

    14,500,000 Americans work in American manufacturing in this country. If all those jobs have gone to China, what the hell are these people making? That number comes directly from the US Dept of Labor. I work in US manufacturing and I work with great US companies everyday who make great products and I also work with foreign based manufacturers who have built plants HERE in the USA that employ US workers. If you spend your days wandering the aisles at WalMart, then you might not see many US manufactured products. If you get a bit further out into the world, you will see them in almost every aspect of our lives.

  • July 13, 2008

    12:42 p.m.

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    me2 writes:

    Michael, very good point. More and more I see China on goods that are just foo foo items. No real value and not many people really need them, like those house flags or banners for each holiday. That and tons of plastic gee gaws.

  • July 13, 2008

    2:34 p.m.

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    HolierThanThou writes:

    "If all those jobs have gone to China, what the hell are these people making?"

    That's a good question. I don't shop at WalMart. When I shop for tools, I notice that next to nothing is Made-in-USA anymore, certainly not power tools. The same goes for machinery. Take a walk through Home Depot or Lowe's or any other dry goods store. See the plumbing department for fittings Made-in-China. Go the the lighting department and try to find anything Made-in-USA. Good luck with that.

    It's the same story with consumer electronics. I suppose you'd call the motherboard in your computer a "plastic geegaw". Same could be said about the monitor and the keyboard you used to type out your nonsense: all Made-in-China.

    Our sinking economy and record-breaking foreclosure rates are not just about tricky mortgages. These problems also come from people's expectations about their futures. They work hard. They expect to have a job and perhaps move up in the world. Their jobs get offshored by greedy executives. This is robbery and there needs to be a law to punish that kind of treason.

    When they're not offshoring jobs, they're flooding the labor market. Unskilled American workers get replaced by unskilled illegal immigrants who will work for much less than their labor is worth. Skilled American workers are replaced by low-rent H1B visa slaves. We need to send all the H1Bs home until every American citizen who wants a job has one. We need to put those who hire illegal immigrants in prison.

    You can cite all the government statistics from the 1970s that you please. I prefer to believe what I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears.

    China does have something to very good to offer us. It isn't anything they make in their factories. It's called accountability. Crooked executives in China often get to face a firing squad or they get a bullet to the back of the brain. Those are executives and managers who screwed up. They may have payed themselves unearned bonuses, taken bribes, or given bribes to government officials. When they get caught, they get dead. Let's import that.

    I propose that we import Chinese accountability and apply it to executives who put people out of work while paying themselves big bonuses. Firing squads duly applied to that ilk would lead to a rosier outlook for every American who currently depends on a job to pay their bills.

  • July 13, 2008

    3:07 p.m.

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    HJ writes:

    To be fair, both China and US get something out of this. China's economy will go to Antarctica if there is no US buying.
    As for the average Americans, I can see the point that they are screwed badly. I have heard towns have people resisting the opening of Home Depot stores adamantly. It is the same thinking as the outsourcing. You have to keep the jobs in the local for average Joes so that everybody can live an easy life. However, if it is the higher-up making the decision, who has ones eyes only on profit and his stock options, jobs will be outsourced and lower cost labors will be imported. I can see why it is done. But it should not be.

  • July 13, 2008

    5:52 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Michael writes:

    HTT - You are an idiot and a moron who cannot see past your own anger and myopic view of the world. Try pulling these companies up on the web and tell me what they make.....and where they make it, cause its all RIGHT F#&%ing HERE in the USA and I work with these companies every week: ConMed, NAACO, Vermeer, Caterpillar, WIKA Instrument, Sealy, Garmin, Ventana, Motorola, EnPro, Energizer, Hardigg, BE Aerospace, BAE, Boeing, Invensys, Harsco, GrafTech, Hubbell, Hayward, Roche, Appleton Papers, Recaro, John Deere, GE, Siemens, ABB, Parker Hannifen, Weil-McLain, SPX, Weir-SPM, Compressor-Systems, Amerlux, A-dec, Southworth, Multiquip, Textronix, Danaher, and the list goes on and on and on and on and on.......... But your too much of an idiot and know it all to realize that there are 1000s of companies and millions of people who make GREAT stuff that are NOT SOLD ON STORE SHELVES!!!!!!!!!! They are high tech, high value added, and complex equipment, machinery, and parts that go into every product made today. OPEN YOUR FREAKIN' EYES and your mind too.

  • July 13, 2008

    8:14 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Sweetpickle writes:

    He should take along the FEMA guys and see if they can take lessons there.

  • July 13, 2008

    10:13 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    colopolgirl writes:

    The Rocky editors should know that I WAS protesting back when the IOC was considering China. The atrocities that China is committing now is eeriy similar to 1936.

    I am sure China will put on a magnificent show during the opening ceremonies and throughout the Games. I won't know though, I won't be watching.

    I've heard people say that we shouldn't boycott the Olympics because we need to be supportive of our athletes and that the Games shouldn't be political. Unfortunately, when it involves China and any other nation in this world, it's going to be political.

  • July 13, 2008

    10:24 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    samsmargolis writes:

    froward - your ignorance is showing through....again. Take a moment to google US made flag lapel pins and you'll find there are plenty of sites that sell home-grown products. You're a tired, pathetic, useless source of information and commentary. Can't you do us all a favor and find another media outlet to drag down into your morass of insane points, rants and links?

  • July 14, 2008

    6:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    michal writes:

    China is not ready to join the free world yet. We should have taken this opportunity to China a lesson by boycotting the games entirely. Part of the reason why Soviet Union started softening its stance was because of the boycott of the Moscow olympics. This made their leaders realize that they had a huge opposition world wide and shook them out of their complacency. My parents who were then Moscow residents tell me of the huge changes that took place both in people's psycho and in the party's functioning since then. China needed something like this. Infact this was free world's only opportunity to show its strength against cruelty, lies, torture and human rights violation. China is not a rising power, its a rising monster, whom are we are allowing to take over the world, because some of our political leaders and industrialists gain financially from them.

    China takes our money to sell us spurious products. They support all our enemies: Iran, North Korea and others. They spread negative rhetoric about the United States in their own land.

    Shame on all the political leaders attending the olympics. Shame on the International Olympic Committee for choosing China as an Olympic venue.

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