In fact, the Chinese Government will be fortunate if it is only the Tibetan independence movement which seeks to exploit the intense media focus on Beijing as the 29th Games draws near. A preview of the possibilities was provided at the ceremony three months ago launching China Central Television’s coverage of the 2008 Olympics. A popular Beijing newscaster, Hu Ziwei, grabbed the microphone and stunned the audience – not to mention millions of viewers – by shouting repeatedly, “If the Chinese have no humane values to present to the world, what is the purpose of the Olympics after all?”
Hu was jailed on charges of “damaging the name of China and the Olympic Games”. We are told that she will be released when the Games are safely over; but the difficulty for the rulers in Beijing is that there will be protesters whose identities even their immense domestic intelligence services will not have been able to ascertain.
Andrew Bolt says
Put that way, Hu’s protest should make her a poster girl for Western journalists concerned about the freedom of the press:
And, of course, her jailing should be condemned. However, her protest was not entirely about human rights in China, as a partial transcript of her comments makes clear:
Today is a special day for the Olympic Channel, for [Hu’s husband] Mr. Zhang Bin, and for me, too. Two hours ago, I found out that Mr. Zhang Bin has been involved in an affair with another woman....
I will finish my last sentence. Let’s be polite. But that French foreign minister said, ‘Until China can export human values, [it] won’t become a great country.’ In front of us, [we] face such a sanctimonious … when Zhang Bin can’t face himself … even can’t face his wife, hurt by him. I feel, China, as a … become a great country… In the end do you have any conscience?! You let go! Still too far away from a great country.
Bolt continues
Fascinating. Still, Lawson’s point remains. And the fear on the faces of the people around Hu - as well as the censorship afterwards - says plenty.
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