Opinions

U.S. and China need more dialogue

In print | April 3, 2008

We were dismayed to see last week’s staff editorial urging the world to boycott the Beijing Olympics, while doing little justice to the political and emotional complexity of the situation or to discussion of the practical consequences. The editorial asserted that, due to the “very political” nature of the Olympics, such a boycott would be an opportunity for “Western nations” (?) to leverage in the interests of political reform, as well as prevent “American morality” (?) from stooping intolerably low.

On the contrary, we see boycotting the Olympics as a diplomatic action that will not only bear little positive political effect, but also prove highly counterproductive at both political and grassroots levels. Political reform in China is an extremely complicated and long-term process, and the government’s decision-making is unlikely to be affected significantly by such a boycott. Instead, the ones who truly bear the brunt of a boycott would be the athletes, many of whom see competing in the Games as the pinnacle of their careers. In addition, since the 1980s, the popularity of the Olympics in China has bordered on that of a national holiday; for millions of everyday Chinese, finally being host to one is a great pleasure and honor on an individual level. Thus, regardless of the intention, a boycott of the 2008 Olympics – an event charged with so much personal anticipation and investment – would provoke a widespread sense of frustration among the Chinese people, and deepen misunderstanding between China and the international community.

The saddening incidents ongoing in Tibet painfully highlight the increased need for dialogue in resolving socio-political tensions, as well as the disturbing biases that exist in both China-based and non-China-based media. China-based media, while making little note of China’s own dearth of balanced media coverage, recently had a field-day with exposing the sensationalized Tibet-related reports of Western media (in particular a misleadingly cropped CNN photograph), further fanning existing nationalistic sentiments within China. Likewise, many mainstream non-China-based medias have rushed into making simplistic moral judgments regarding matters such as Tibet and the Olympics, at the expense of providing in-depth and thoughtful coverage on what are complex social, political and historical issues. In such an atmosphere, already full of misunderstandings and pre-assumptions, a boycott of the Beijing Olympics will only serve to aggravate tension and create new divides. Thus we feel that a boycott, rather than the original wish to engage with and confront important issues, would instead effectively result in a damaging shutting-down upon them.

Discussion outside China of the 2008 Olympics’ aggrandized, overly politicized aspects, while deserving of attention and debate, has continually overshadowed its equally salient personal facets, as well as the practical consequences of a boycott. We write in the hope of offering a different perspective. Debate over issues such as Tibet and the Olympics involve many differing worldviews and interpretations that in turn necessarily involve different sets of biases. In light of this, we believe that the consequences of a boycott would ultimately be counter-productive; strains of antagonism, defensiveness and condescension almost inevitably come to taint such (lack of) interactions. There exist more constructive, effective and long-term ways to increase awareness and progress regarding important issues within China. No matter how difficult, we should be working towards attaining increased dialogue and communication, open-mindedness and understanding – and boycotting the 2008 Olympics will only be to the detriment of all of these.