In two days, the torch bearing the Olympic flame will light the cauldron high atop Beijing National Stadium signaling the opening of the first Olympic Games in China. It’s a historic moment for sport, China and the world.
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But I don’t know about you … I’m about as enthusiastic about these games as I am about paying my income taxes.
Look, I’m a sports fan. I love the Olympics. I’ve attended past games.
As a native Angeleno, the 84’ Olympics are the most fun I’ve ever had in L.A. (well almost the most fun).
The city rolled out the welcome mat, and yes, even rolled back the smog. The L.A. Olympics were a model for the modern games. Our games were funded primarily with private funds with minimal government assistance, and even turned a profit.
Brotherhood, Right?
Don’t get me wrong. I live in the West. We have inseparable links to Asia, and China in particular. I have been to China, and adore its people and culture. But the Chinese government and its style of authoritarian capitalism is another matter.
The Olympic Games are supposed to be a symbol of brotherhood through sport. As the flag unfurls at the opening ceremony, there will be platitudes about the Olympic spirit. Yet these games are more about China’s pronouncement to the world that it is a global power whose economic resolve cannot be denied.
Kind of Like Us?
The Beijing games will showcase a growing Chinese middle-class. It will show Chinese consumers who use cell phones, own cars and have the same access to electronic toys as their Western counterparts. It will tout China’s economic reforms. Private enterprises are in, and collectives are out. Today, individual Chinese can even own property.
Despite this tectonic shift and obvious prosperity, Chinese civil and political rights have not significantly advanced since the Tiananmen Square uprising nearly two decades ago. To demonstrate its “new openness,” the government has designated three “protest parks” in Beijing where democracy will be on display.
But prior to the opening ceremony, the Chinese have sequestered key voices in its growing human rights movement, and brutally suppressed advocates of Tibetan independence.
When the International Olympic Committee accepted China’s bid to host the 2008 Games, the government estimated that it would cost $8.3 billion to build the venues and run events.
Based on the latest estimates, the Chinese have spent $43 billion or more than 5 times their original projection. Unlike the Greeks whose budget busting Athens’ games caused nearly a 5.3 percent national deficit, the amount spent by the Chinese on their “coming out” party will cause barely an economic ripple.
It’s the Process, Pal
No matter what the Chinese spend, nor how spectacular the show, it will not change the course of how they got to this point.
For example, to make the skies clear for their games, the government ordered the temporary shutdown of hundreds of factories, coal mines and power plants across a wide swath of Northern China causing massive layoffs.
To tighten security and limit protests from those citizens whose lives have not been advanced by the new Chinese prosperity, officials have applied stricter controls on the movement of people from regions outside Beijing.
Even foreign journalists felt the pinch when they learned that the government had limited their free access to the internet.
There is no question that Western economies, like ours, are struggling while the Chinese economy is booming.
As the dragon dancers snake through the Olympic crowds and fireworks illuminate the night sky above Beijing Stadium, the Chinese will announce themselves as a true modern global power.
But — at what price?
John Cohn is a senior partner at Globe West Financial Group, based on the Westside. www.globewestfinancial.com
