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Chinese Security Forces: Coming Soon To A Street Near You!
By Paul Midler | April 7, 2008
John Pomfret launched a new blog at the Washington Post. An interesting voice on China, he put his best foot forward with a first post, “Don’t Expect Protests to Hurt Chinese Regime”:
[Protest is] going to weaken China’s government? On the contrary. The more pressure the Chinese get from foreigners and barbarians – which are actually synonymous in ancient Chinese – the stronger the system becomes. Indeed, China’s system feeds off this kind of adversity. The Communist regime has a peculiar genius for turning these types of threats into opportunities.
Speaking of opportunity, Beijing recently succeeded in pressuring both England and France into placing their own security forces around the Olympic torch on its path through each country. I wonder how many other nations are being browbeaten into allowing Chinese security forces. Dressed in track suits, the security team appears more athletic than threatening, but that’s not really the point, is it?
England and France are military powers. They have their own police, for god’s sake. Maybe these other nations felt incapable of denying China’s request, who knows, or maybe they thought it would cause no harm. Already one has had the fortitude to say “no”. Australia’s Kevin Rudd told China that his country would be handling its own security. Good on you, mate!
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Topics: China |
April 8th, 2008 at 12:52 am
I believe it’s time to boycott products, companies, hedge funds, whatever, that prop up the Chinese regime a la the way it was done with S. Africa and Apartheid. This is the ONLY thing that will make a true impression: economic loss.
Let the Olympics go on unscathed (seriously, a handful of games of true athleticism and sport vs. medal mongering events for the Chinese like airgun shooting?) but boycott, boycott, boycott.
Let’s see if the world will have the fortitude…
April 8th, 2008 at 1:17 am
These countries had no choice but to let the Chinese security forces in. If they didn’t, the torches would have been grabbed, and then China would say that England and France allowed it to happen. The torch was intercepted many times so now we know that the Chiense aren’t that effective either. Other countries will do what Australia did and will tell China to stay away.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:20 am
I read that one of the torch runners revealed she had a Tibetan flag patch on her arm during her leg and one of those thugs-in-baby-blue-tracksuits immediately ripped it off her arm.
That’s why they’re there.
April 8th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Always welcome to post a website link in the comments section…
April 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I think these countries must insist that these Chinese security people be dressed in military uniforms to distinguish them from the athletes. We don’t mind guns, but we don’t like concealed weapons.
And, as a fringe benefit, this would provide great photo opportunities for the media. “Armed Guards for a Symbol of Peace”, with Chinese characteristics.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:17 am
Reuters ran a complete piece that is worth a look. First the link, then a snippet…
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG307383.htm
HONG KONG, April 8 (Reuters) - Protest and controversy have surrounded the Beijing Olympic flame since it was lit in Greece two weeks ago — and so has a phalanx of large and physically fit Chinese men in blue and white track suits.
The hand-picked team of crack security operatives look like a cross between marathon gold medalists and secret service agents, trotting beside the flame with stern faces and earpieces, along the most ambitious torch route ever attempted, dubbed by Beijing the “Harmonious Journey”.
The flame is supposed to symbolise peace and unity and the relay is meant to be a celebration, but the run has sometimes resembled an obstacle course, with activists lunging for the flame, throwing water and trying to aim fire extinguishers at it.
The Chinese security guards — who in Paris nervously turned the flame off several times on Monday and retreated with the torch to a bus when protesters advanced — have drawn fire for their heavy-handed approach to managing the torch’s progress.
In London, Sebastian Coe, chairman of the 2012 Olympics organising committee and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, called them “thugs”, British media reported.
Torch bearer and former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq described them as aggressive.
“They were very robotic, very full on, and actually I noticed them having skirmishes with our own police and the Olympic authorities before our leg of the relay, which was confusing,” she was quoted as telling BBC Radio 4.
“They were barking orders at me, like ‘Run! Stop!’, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, who are these people?’,” the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. “They kept pushing my hand up higher when I was holding the torch, so they were…interesting.”
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia, not China, would provide security for the flame when it heads there later this month, but The Age reported there were still plans for Chinese “torch attendants” to accompany it through Canberra.
So just who are these men in the track suits?
April 8th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
They are “harmonizers”
April 9th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I question many of the comments I have seen in various sources about the inefficacy of a boycott. I have read some Russian sources that seem to indicate that the 1980 boycott actually did have some effect both socially and economically.
I don’t really support a boycott, but I do think it would be a potential catalyst of real change in China. The only thing is, that real change could take the form of even more nationalistic government than the CCP.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
The Olympics has turned out to be like so many broken business deals in China.
They (CCP) promise “no problem” at every demand and guarantee (sound familiar, those that go to factories a lot in the PRD?) many things they are not even planning on honoring to secure this prestigious event to put themselves in a good light. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), “incidents” have flared up that have forced them to show their true hand.
“Honor” is not in the CCP vocabulary and I question if it is even a Chinese cultural value. Yes, naive foreigners (read “Westerners”) have a lot to learn about the “culture” of China.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
The problem with popular boycott would be coordination. If only 10% of the public were to participate - a huge proportion - it would have only a limited effect. It was also terribly inconvenience that minority, who would be forced to to look high and low for alternative purchases. As pointed out in the press, for many product categories, there are NO alternatives to products that are made in China.