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| Summary: Should we refuse to send a team to the Beijing Olympics in 2008? |
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Author:Alastair Endersby ( United Kingdom )
Alastair learnt to debate at the Cambridge Union but discovered his real talents lay in coaching when he started teaching. He has twice coached England teams in the World Schools Debating Championships. Alastair currently teaches History and Politics at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, England. He is the Editor of Debatabase. |
Created: Sunday, September 09, 2007
Last Modified:
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Beijing, the capital city of The People’s Republic of China, was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in July 2001. The decision delighted the Chinese government and people, who saw it as international recognition of their country’s growing economic, sporting and political strength. Others criticised the choice of Beijing as rewarding a dictatorial government with a terrible human rights record and a history of international trouble-making. Indeed, China had originally bid in 1993 for the 2000 Olympics, and its failure to win enough IOC votes then was widely linked the international concern over its use of military force to put down student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The Beijing Olympics will take place from August 8th – 24th 2008, with some events such as sailing and equestrian sports taking place at other venues in China and Hong Kong. The event is a major priority for the Chinese Government and large areas of Beijing have been rebuilt in readiness for the Games, leading to some complaints about forced evictions and the destruction of historic buildings. Groups opposed to China’s government are also seeing the 2008 Olympics as an opportunity to focus the world’s attention on China in order to push for political change. One of China’s greatest fears is that these groups may be able to persuade some countries to boycott (stay away from) the Beijing Olympics, spoiling the Games and diminishing China’s international status. Both the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Games in Los Angeles suffered boycotts from a range of countries protesting against the policies of the host nation, but the last five Summer Olympics have all passed without significant protest. |
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| China is a communist dictatorship which maintains tight political control over its 1.3 billion people. All power is focused in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, and those who call for the introduction of democratic elections are arrested and jailed. Hosting the Olympics is a huge prize for any nation, giving them huge international prestige and attention, and China does not deserve to be rewarded in this way. With the exception of the USSR in 1980, every post-war Olympics has been hosted by a democratic country and this has helped to promote democracy as a desirable norm for successful states. Many democratic countries refused to send teams to the Moscow Olympics and the principle remains the same – we should not lend our support to China’s attempt to legitimise its dictatorship through sport. |
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The Olympics should be above politics and countries should not use their sportsmen and women as a stick with which to beat the Chinese Government. The spirit of the Olympics is to bring together nations from all over the world in peace, regardless of their political systems. For this reason any threat to boycott the Beijing Games would be against the Olympic charter. Such actions would also be counter-productive, as China is likely to react negatively to any external attempt to force it to change its system. Greater political openness is most likely to come through more engagement with the outside world, as happened in South Korea in the run-up to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. |
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| China has a terrible human rights record and staying away from the games is the best way to draw global attention to this and push the regime to change its ways. In order to win the Games in 2001, China promised the IOC that it would improve its human rights record, but these promises have not been kept. Thousands of political prisoners suffer in Chinese jails and labour camps, alongside other prisoners of conscience such as Christians and members of the Falun Gong movement – all persecuted for their private beliefs. A quarter of a million people are imprisoned without trial in China. Journalists are among those detained in this way, and the regime runs a huge censorship operation covering all forms of media including the internet. It also executes thousands of its citizens a year and runs a population policy involving forced abortions and sterilisations. We cannot show our approval of such a state by sending a team to the Olympics. |
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Hosting the Olympics is contributing to the opening up of China and helping to improve human rights there, as it did twenty years ago in South Korea. Some political prisoners have been freed in the past year and the government is taking advice from countries such as Britain about improving its justice system. Already it has been announced that the usual restrictions on foreign journalists will be loosened during the Beijing Games. In any case, many of the countries which attack China over human rights are hardly above criticism themselves – what of America’s record with hundreds of thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan following its invasions? What about the racial discrimination that exists in America and in many European countries? What about Guantanamo Bay? |
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| The Olympics are actually making human rights even worse. Reports from Beijing over the past few years have made it clear that the $80 billion redevelopment of large areas of the city for the 2008 Games has been carried out in a very authoritarian manner. Many historic streets and buildings have been destroyed without any thought of conservation. Over 300 000 people have lost homes, businesses and land, with little or no compensation, and those who have tried to complain have often been jailed. And as the Games approach it is likely that a harsh police crack-down will target poor migrant workers, the homeless, the mentally ill and normal street vendors, in an effort to present a sanitised face to the world. Our attendance in Beijing, as athletes or as spectators, would be built upon these shattered lives. |
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Staying away from the Beijing Games will do nothing to help anyone who has been inconvenienced by the preparations for the Olympics. Such complaints occur in every host city, including Sydney and London, as people are displaced and land compulsorily purchased for a greater public good. Beijing has already benefited hugely from the vast investment in improved infrastructure needed to host the Games (e.g. roads, public transport, sanitation, environmental improvement, hotels to support larger tourist numbers), and this legacy will endure long after the last race has been won. A boycott would only punish our own athletes, denying them a chance to test themselves against the best in the world, and perhaps win glory for our nation. After years or training, commitment and sacrifice, who are we to take away their chance of sporting immortality? |
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| China’s treatment of the Tibetan people is another reason for not sending a team to the Beijing Olympics. Since its invasion of Tibet in 1950, The People’s Republic has claimed it as part of China and ruthlessly suppressed attempts by the Tibetan people to call for independence or autonomy. Their Buddhist religion has been attacked and the Dalai Llama, the Tibetan people’s traditional leader, forced into exile. Meanwhile the communist regime has settled hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese in Tibet, discriminating in their favour in order to weaken Tibet’s ethnic and cultural identity – actions which are clearly against the Olympic Charter. China also plans to use the Olympics to assert its claim to Tibet, for example by using a Tibetan antelope as part of its five Olympic mascots. Sending a team to Beijing would show our acceptance of China’s illegal occupation of Tibet and harsh treatment of its people. |
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Despite the efforts of some pressure groups around the world, Tibet is internationally accepted as part of China. As part of the People’s Republic of China life for ordinary Tibetans has improved hugely – they have been freed from feudal rule by a religious elite and their economy has been greatly developed, most recently by the new rail connection to the rest of China. Tibetans will celebrate the 2008 Olympics alongside all other Chinese people.
Even if we did wish to raise the status of Tibet, an Olympic boycott is the wrong way to do it. Despite some countries staying away from Moscow in 1980 over the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, the boycott had no effect on Soviet policy other than to reinforce mistrust and cold war divisions.
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| The Olympics are a celebration of international cooperation and peace, yet China is not a responsible actor on the global stage. Its support props up dictatorial regimes in Sudan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar and North Korea, offering them loans, aid investment and military support, all of which democratic countries have decided to withhold in protest against their repressive treatment of their own people. China has also used its veto on the United Nations Security Council to prevent concerted international sanctions being applied against these rogue states. Deciding to boycott the Beijing Games would demonstrate that we do not consider China to be promoting Olympic values, and would apply pressure on China to act more responsibly in future. |
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China is an important and increasingly responsible member of the global community, as befits a permanent member of the UN Security Council. China’s “peaceful rise” over the past twenty years” has not involved military force. Nor has it invaded other countries without UN authorisation. Instead it is cooperating with its neighbours, both in South-East and in Central Asia, and seeking to promote a “multi-polar” world where no dominant state can dictate to others. China is actively involved in seeking solutions to international problems such as Sudan and North Korea, for example by voting in August 2007 to send a UN peacekeeping force to Darfur. Hosting a successful Olympics will recognise China’s positive global contribution and do much to reinforce its constructive approach to international affairs in the future. |
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| There are many doubts over how fair the Beijing Olympics will be. As with European communist states in the past, sport is being used in China to promote national unity and political stability. So much pressure is put on athletes and coaches to succeed that many outsiders suspect the illegal use of performance-enhancing drugs is widespread. Questions have been raised about surprising Chinese performances at a number of international sporting events over the past decade, and the lack of transparency in the Chinese political and sporting system does not command confidence. For the sake of fair and clean sport, we should not associate our athletes with such a contest. |
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Rumours about Chinese athletes have remained entirely unproven and are based upon prejudice rather than any actually evidence. The Chinese system is increasingly transparent and Chinese athletes continue to be found clean at a host of international sporting events. The rapid improvement in Chinese sporting results should not be a surprise – a nation with a fifth of the world’s population is bound to produce huge numbers of talented athletes, but until recently their ability went unrecognised and they had little chance to train or compete effectively. In any case, the drug-testing arrangements at the Beijing Games are an IOC responsibility, so the host nation has no opportunity to manipulate them even if it wished to. |
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| China’s terrible environmental record means it is an unsuitable host for the Olympics. Its factories and power stations pour pollution into the air and water supply, poisoning the land and creating an ecological disaster. Its pursuit of growth at all costs risk wrecking any international attempt to tackle climate change. Refusing to send a team to the Olympics would send a clear message that such an attitude is unacceptable. It would also be best for our sportsmen, as the air quality in Beijing is so bad that athletes’ performances are likely to be severely affected, damaging the Games as a sporting spectacle. |
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All industrialising nations experience environmental problems, and it is western countries, rather than China, which are largely responsible for the global rise in C02 levels over the past century. As countries become developed and prosperous, then they are in a position to give a greater priority to environmental issues. This is already happening in China, where environmental consciousness is improving rapidly, not least because of the international attention the Games have brought. Solar heating is widely used in Beijing and there are ambitious plans to create new eco-cities that will be carbon neutral. Beijing is committed to improving the quality of its atmosphere in time for the Olympics, and has already shut down or relocated many of the most polluting industries near the city. There are also plans to limit vehicle use during the Games so that local air quality is further improved. |
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| | This House would boycott the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
This House would stay away from Beijing
That we should refuse to send a team to Beijing
This House believes the Beijing Games will betray the spirit of the Olympics
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Anshan
Member
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Posted: Thu Nov 1, 2007 03:17 am |
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You have a point. Yeah, Soviet Union reminds us World War 2 and Cold War. Perhaps history will repeat itself.
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chingus
Member
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Posted: Thu Nov 1, 2007 12:59 am |
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| the IOC also justified holding the games in the Soviet Union, and it was up to individual nations to boycott it.
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Anshan
Member
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2007 08:27 am |
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Cingus,
Being old or traditional doesn't automatically make right.
Falungong is not a minority group, nor a religious group,but a cult and a political group. Their motto is " true, good and patient" , but they have always fooled people that when being sick, they should practice their Falun instead of going to hospital. They have always told westerners how many practicers have been jailed ,but never mentioned how many times they've let go and then they've begun to violate the laws again. I'm a Chinese living in China always and I know how they have bothered us common people. For example, recently they have tried to write " Falun is good " on all the money notes they have so that people will have to read their appeal. Compared with the long living religions in China, e.g. Buddha, they are by no means patient. Simply put, Chinese people are free to believe in Buddha, Christian, Muslim and so on, because they are lawful.
As for human rights and Tibet, I'm afraid it would take too much time for me to explain how they have become "problems" to you. Still, you haven't answered this logic question; why don't you want to boycott IOC as she has Justified China?
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