I happened to come across a writing in my dear lovely (gangster looking) French educated 粱丽妃 君's blog. It is a reflection on the Olympic torch relay in Paris (quoted below). My dear is impelled to speak out despite his political caution, and I also feel the same way despite my desperate lack of time.

The Olympic torch relay took place in London last Friday, and then in Paris the next day, and then in San Francisco yesterday. I watched all of the events on BBC and CNN, especially the London relay. A brief account of the event on last Friday: it was snowing, and the relay was accompanied by pro-Tibet protesters all the way, with some entertaining rugby tackles by the police to fend off a few protesters who tried to get into the way of the torch. On one occasion a disguised protester grabbed the torch, though immediately wrestled down by the police. On another occasion, someone sprayed a fire extinguisher at the torch at a near distance.

On the following day in Paris, there was the same level of unrest and the route of the relay was shortened towards the end of the event. Yesterday in the US, the event was more peaceful due to a large pro-China local populace and the tactic but embarrassing last minute change of route by the Chinese authority to avoid the protesters.

In my opinion, the Olympic game is a trigger event. It is definitely a golden opportunity for the oppressed Tibetans to catch international attention. However, the pro-Tibet protests during the relay events are not genuinely directed to the issues related to Tibet, albeit they are carried out in the name of “free Tibet”. It is a venting of anger and mistrust by the western populace based on their biased understanding of China over decades. It is anti-China rather than pro-Tibet. This allows the western world to lump anything related to the despicable human rights record of China to upholding of the integrity of the Olympic game. What we have seen is just the tip of the iceberg of the entrenched sino-phobia in the western world.

As for those dramatic and unlawful acts during the relays, it is less disturbing because it is more of a reflection of the violent nature of the western populace. It is important to note that those who have been arrested for offences of disturbance of public order during the relays are westerners, not Chinese, not Tibetan, but local Caucasians. For them the Olympic events are golden opportunities of self-expression, and any unlawful behaviour would be galvanized with the righteousness of promoting democracy. There may be extreme acts from some Chinese anti-Communism groups. Indeed they were present at the events, but these groups of people are pro-China while anti-Communism, they would not obstruct the Game which is beneficial to China.

I agree with my dear that both the Western and the Chinese media are biased. I am sad that the Western media have been and are playing an important part in nurturing sina-phobia in the Western societies. I am equally sad that the Chinese media’s manipulating and obliviating the Chinese people. I agree that the unchallengeable authority of the Chinese government results in abuse of power at different levels of the political system and there is an urging necessity for remedy in order to realize a sustainable political social and economic development. However, it is unrealistic to impose democracy on China, this is because democracy is primarily a political system which has no history in China and hence is incompatible to the Chinese culture. More importantly, it is a fallacy in the western society that anything undesirable to the life of a civilian is contrary democracy. Those “democratical” ideals, e.g. related to liberalism, are not of politics and therefore are not necessarily democratic. Having said that, these western ideals are conducive to the welfare of society and should be introduced to the Chinese political system.

I hope the Western people would notice the political reforms that are undergoing in China, e.g. enhancing the representiveness of people in the government at local levels, but it is unrealistic to expect changes overnight. As for the Olympic problems, the Chinese government has well managed the art of not rushing to make decisions and being passive to foreign pressure in emergency situations. Therefore, the protests would alarm and provoke the Chinese government, but is not constructive to the Chinese political reform. As for the short term solution to the Olympic problems, I expect the Chinese government to insist on its hard stance against open dialogue with Dalai. This is due to the historic distress of the 老干部局, a bureau controlling the CCP, to the Tibetan Separists. I think this is unwise, but the government is bound to yield to the Party. So the Western world would get their pound of flesh, the Chinese government would screw up the business of the coming-out party, and the Tibetan people would be doomed to “be dealt with” after the Game.

Last but not least, just a word on Dalai Lama. He is not pro-independence because he is shrewd to recognize the pragmatic consequences of provoking China. Yet, he is made scapegoat by the CCP because he is in power of the Tibetan people and hence it is expedient to target the campaign at him to suppress the power he possesses. Yet a recent phenomenon is worth noting: a group of young Tibetans voiced their dissatisfaction to their spiritual leader. This reflects a separation of power, or a dismantlement of power that is spearheaded by the impulsive and daring young generation. Such impetus of reforming the power is not new to man-kind history, such as the successful one in 1919 and the unsuccessful one in 1989 in China. It is often the fore-sign of fundamental political uproar. Indeed, I suspect the prelude of the unrest in Tibet earlier this year was not directed by Dalai but a radical underground organization in Tibet. This is a syndrome of the unhealthy political system in China and testifies on the incompetence of the Chinese government to remedy the situation over years.

(the following is from Li Fei’s blog)

Torch passed Paris

This entry was intended to be in Chinese; however, as there is a greater pertinence to address the issue to my foreign friends or any foreign readers, I decided to give my primitive English a try.

It has been quite sometime that the issue of Tibet occupied the headlines of most major newspapers. I am fortunate and/or unfortunate to live in Paris - one of the most hostile cities - and to witness how news and, more tragically, people’s innocent minds, are being manipulated, by both Western and Chinese media.

All along, I have been trying to be deadly quite, not to get involved in any heated discussion. In fact, towards the last two years in Singapore, I have already made up my mind not to discuss too much politics. My past experience of talking about Taiwan issue pissed me off and a few quite close friendships with some Japanese made me think twice whenever I had the urge to discuss Sino-Japan relationship.

More importantly, in light of the ever increasing power of China, I as well as any other Chinese with decent education and social status must be responsible for our words. Any threat of genocide or massacre made out of adrenaline rush could send chill down others’ spinal cords.

So I kept quite. I laughed at how western media likened Beijing Olympic to that of Berlin. Equally, news from Sina and Sohu made me sad.

So I kept quite. And I sincerely prayed that the rest of the ignorant, like me who can do nothing but follow or being manipulated by the media, can keep quite. “If you are not part of the fucking solution, you might be part of the fucking problem”.

Obviously, some people chose otherwise. Some, who tried to correct me to pronounce Pekin et Shanghaï, had the courage to equate China to France 50 years ago. Some, who could not even speak English well, let along Chinese, proposed a debate on the French participation in Beijing Olympic. Some, who dared not even, appeared he himself, sent a group of innocent school boys to street in support of Tibet independence.  

What is even sadder is that: all these fools rushed to street, had the luck to watch a farce staged by the Tibetans. I was very happy to hear from my friends who actually went there that Tibetans failed to incite any fights with the Chinese scholars. It is already a shame that a protest or riot of such nature broke out in China. It is even worse that some losers brought it to foreigners’ eyes. They did not earn sympathy, but only others’ despise of China.

One final word, France, Britain and USA took part in Berlin Olympics. And now, they threaten not to go to Beijing.

PS: 丽妃丽妃我爱你，muah muah~~~  hehehe...