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| Also listed in: Campus Progress Blog |
After taking a few Chinese politics and cultural courses, as well as three levels of Mandarin, I had an inkling and understanding that the Beijing Olympics would stir things up for China.
Since focus has shifted towards the country in preparation for the games, China has taken heat on Darfur, Tibet and even Taiwan (to an extent) while the world watches. The AP-by-way-of-Los Angeles Times reports that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao accused Dalai Lama supporters of creating the violent instances of unrest that have occurred recently. The Dalai Lama has said he would resign if people perpetuated the violence.
It will continue to be interesting to see how China reacts to different pressures while the world's focus is on them. China's usual brand of force and retaliation will be more difficult to carry out, especially considering the U.S. dropped China from its list of top 10 human rights offenders.
Why does the US keep a list of human rights offenders? Instead, they should look closer to home first. Guantanamo is still up and running, and Bush just vetoed a ban on waterboarding that was passed by Congress. That's not to say that the US is as bad as China, but it still has a lot of improving to do before it legitimately can criticize other countries' human rights records.