Week 2: Cha and Beeson

Q1: Note the issues - negative and positive - regarding China that seem to be coming to the fore around the Olympics.

Q2: Make note of the regional issues mentioned. What does Cha say about Japan? What does he say about Korea?

Q3:How does Beeson's excerpt help to make sense of references to Japan and Korea from Cha's piece, including key historical moments, developments, and trends as well as East Asian regional relations?

Q4: What other items of note does Beeson mention in this historical overview?

A: In the Cha reading from the Washington Post, China is first put forth as an "ancient and celebrated" (1) civilization, as from this point Cha goes on to elaborate on the innovations and reforms being implemented in the face of the impending games. Cha also points out how sport diplomacy has played a role in the regional relationships in East Asia, bringing in political undertones to sports from ping-pong to the Olympics. Furthermore, the fact that China is holding the Olympics only after Japan and Korea both did is telling. It also shows how time has altered the world view of power and economic might in East Asia. Japan hosted the Olympics in 1964, serving as a reminder of its leading role in Asia up to World War II and even after as it worked to reassert its legitimacy as an Asian leader in the developed world.

Cha argues that China is using the Olympics as a stage on which to showcase their economic growth and prosperity, demonstrating the importance of their emergence as what many perceive to be the leading Asian nation, not to mention its role as a power on an international level. Renovations and massive reforms are demonstrative of an attempt to revitalize Beijing and usher in a new and modern era for the Chinese, as its eminence is established in the global market, economically, politically and militarily.

Yet China's role is not taken for granted by all, and is highly scrutinized by some. The government is facing political pressure from human rights activists, internal dissidents, journalists, and NGOs, not to mention from other nations at the UN. China must open itself up ideologically if it wishes to appease the vociferous appeals for respect of human dignity and liberty. Steps have been taken by the Chinese government in response to the growing criticism concerning both internal and external human rights abuses that China is accused of perpetrating and condoning, but to what extent the attempts are genuine cannot be known. With regard to Darfur, where China has been criticised for dealing in arms with the genocidal regime, there has been progress at the UN as China has chosen not to veto Security Council resolutions dealing with the conflict. Still, the New York Times recently published an article dealing with arrests and repression of active dissidents within China which leads some to believe that the goodwill internationally could well be a short-lived facade of humanity and humility. Only time will tell. Still, South Korea was pressured when it hosted the Olympics in 1988, and what followed was increased democratization where there had been authoritarianism, so pressure could prove great enough to enact real change with time.