In Beijing, going for the gold – in censorship

Is Chinese President Hu Jintao going for the gold in disingenuousness?

Addressing foreign reporters in Beijing today, the Chinese leader “warned…against ‘politicizing’ the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing,” which will start next Friday, August 8. A German news service reports that Hu cautioned that “[p]oliticizing the Games was contrary to the world’s wishes for the Olympics and would ‘in the end undermine the Olympic movement….’” Hu acknowledged that it is “inevitable that people from different countries and regions [might have] different views,” but he advised that “[s]uch differences [can] only be overcome by dialog on the same level….” (Deutsche Presse Agentur in the Bangkok Post)

Reinhard Krause/Reuters

At a meeting with about two dozen foreign journalists in Beijing today, Chinese President Hu Jintao said that his government had unblocked access to some, but not all, Internet sites

At his press conference today, Hu’s audience members had “had their questions vetted by the Chinese foreign ministry” before turning up to hear the president speak. Also, any journalists “who wanted to ask about Tibet or human rights were not given the opportunity to ask their questions.” (Deutsche Presse Agentur in the Bangkok Post)

So much, apparently, for “dialog on the same level.”

Meanwhile, news broke earlier this week that “[s]ome International Olympic Committee officials [had] cut a deal to let China block” what the communist government in Beijing considers to be “sensitive Websites despite [its] promises of unrestricted access….” A senior IOC official “admitted on Wednesday” that “China had committed to providing [the] media with the same freedom to report on the Games as they enjoyed at previous Olympics, but journalists have this week complained of finding access to sites deemed sensitive to its communist leadership blocked.” (Reuters)

The International Olympic Committee’s media-relations chief said: “I regret that it now appears [that the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG)] has announced that there will be limitations on Website access during Games time….I also now understand that some IOC officials negotiated with the Chinese that some sensitive sites would be blocked on the basis they were not considered Games-related.” As of today, reportedly, Chinese authorities have unblocked certain Websites but not those related to the Falun Gong religious movement or to Tibet-independence groups. Earlier in the week, a BOCOG spokesman had said at a press conference: “I would remind you that Falun Gong is an evil, fake religion, which has been banned by the Chinese government.” (Reuters; also VNUnet.fr, France, and Marca.com, Spain)

Grace Liang/Reuters

Yesterday, journalists from China Radio International worked in the media workroom that has been set up at the Main Press Center of the Beijing Olympics

The Olympic Charter states that the International Olympic Committee “admits its new members at a ceremony during which they agree” to “keep [themselves] free from
any political or commercial influence and from any racial or religious consideration; to fight against all other forms of discrimination; and to promote in all circumstances the interests of the International Olympic Committee and those of the Olympic Movement.” Presumably, China’s government is basing its censorship actions on this IOC-expressed mission to keep Olympics-related events politics-free; perhaps this aspect of its charter has also prompted the IOC to approve of the Chinese authorities’ free-flow-of-information clampdown.

On the other hand, what are supporters around the world of the so-called Olympic spirit supposed to make of the fact that the Olympic Charter also explicitly states that “Olympism,” which it refers to as “a philosophy of life,” seeks to honor, among other noble-sounding goals, “respect for universal fundamental ethical principles”?

Nowadays, isn’t freedom of thought and expression considered a “universal fundamental ethical principle”?

Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights states in full: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” (Here’s the complete text of the declaration in English. Here it is in Chinese.) It would appear that, both in theory and in practice, as a member of the U.N., China is obliged to respect and implement the provisions of this declaration.

Joe Chan/Reuters

Security, security, security: On Wednesday of this week, paramilitary policemen marched in formation into Beijing’s new National Stadium, a main venue of the Olympic Games that will begin next Friday, August 8

The Belgium-headquartered International Federation of Journalists issued a statement this week that quoted the IFJ’s general-secretary, Aidan White. He observed: “We learn with dismay from the Chinese government that some Internet sites are blocked….This is a serious breach of the promise [it had] given that all journalists, particularly those in the Main Press Center for the Games, would have unfettered access to the Internet. We demand that all restrictions are lifted so that our colleagues can work freely and search access to the information they need….Censorship has no place at the Olympic Games.”

Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) |
August 01 2008 at 07:28 AM