Written by Bao Tong (鲍彤), former Director of the Office of Political Reform of the CCP Central Committee and Secretary to Zhao Ziyang, from AsiaNews:
The Beijing Olympics are a great opportunity for China to show off its splendour to the world. Since the Olympic Games take place every four years, a new venue must be found every four years. It is not that hard for world leaders to deal with the matter if one’s psychology is “normal”, not so for China’s leaders. For them, I fear it is quite impossible.
Why impossible in China? Because China was awarded the Games after the Tiananmen Square massacre. In support of the Chinese people, the international community continued to condemn and denounce a few “Chinese butchers,” but to show its friendship to more than a billion Chinese, they picked Beijing to host the Olympics.
This is what comes when peoples are on friendly terms but for those who succeeded the people responsible for the 1989 massacre, the first attitude (condemnation) is symptomatic of a desire to demonise China, embodying the “not yet extinguished desire of hostile forces to exterminate us”; conversely, the second (awarding the Games) is seen as a lucky break that fell from the sky showcasing all of our transformations. Thus, China like Cinderella can say that it has turned into the most beautiful princess of the story.
