With Olympics Looming, China Cracks Down on Disorder, Dissent

Jul 14th, 2008 • Posted in: News

Some measures are merely inconveniences, while others, say critics, are draconian

BEIJING
China is tightening controls in order to present a firm show of safety and order at the upcoming Olympics — with critics continuing to question the ethical propriety of some of the measures, according to various press reports. Among last week’s activities:

• The BBC reports that security measures around the capital are expected to result in inconvenience, annoyance, and even detention. In order to curb air pollution, private cars will be banned from Beijing on alternate days. A security cordon has been set up on roads surrounding the capital, and some migrant workers have been told to leave the capital altogether. Most ominous, according to the BBC report, are threats designed to keep political activists from causing trouble. One human rights advocate, Hou Wenzhuo, said she was detained without charges for 18 days as a warning to keep a low profile during the Olympics.
• With the games looming, Chinese authorities are trying to reassure the world that calm has returned to Tibet. But according to a report from the Economist, many monks remain in custody and the situation remains, in the words of one monk, “very tense.” Despite China’s promises of greater openness for coverage of the Olympics, foreign journalists still need special permission to enter Tibet, and most applications are refused, according to the report.
• New York Times correspondent Jake Hooker, stationed in Beijing, writes that the approach of the Olympics has resulted in a vise-like crackdown, including arrests, of parents who are seeking answers to why schools collapsed during the May earthquake. He notes that after a “brief period of openness,” the government has begun cracking down on those with questions. “[W]ith the Olympic Games in Beijing approaching, the issue increasingly looked like a time bomb for the authorities, and they scurried to defuse it,” Hooker writes. “The Propaganda Department banned coverage of destroyed schools in the domestic press. Paramilitary police officers blocked foreign reporters from demonstrations. Activists who tried to gather and publish information about school construction were detained.”

Sources: BBC, July 11 — Economist, July 11– New York Times, July 11.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 7 — Related Newsline story, June 30 — Related Newsline story, June 23 — Related Newsline story, June 16 — Related Newsline story, June 9.

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One Response »

1. Ethics Newsline® » Research Report » Poll Charts Chinese Public’s High Satisfaction, Hopes for Olympics on August 11th, 2008 at 8:50 pm:

   [...] more information, see: Related Newsline story, July 14 — Related Newsline story, July 7 — Related Newsline story, June 23 [...]

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