Editorial: Coming-out party

China has just discovered what it is like to be at the receiving end of terrorist activity. Sixteen people are reported to have been killed when two men with knives and grenades attacked military policemen in Kashgar, which is a Muslim-majority area in the country’s remote north-west. Since the Beijing Olympics start this week, it is not hard to figure out the reason behind the timing of the attack, even though it has occurred thousands of miles away from the capital. China, however, is not a soft target and it is unlikely that it will allow a repeat performance. Beijing, at any rate, has been sealed tight.

 

China has invested a huge amount in terms of resources, money (one figure mentioned is $160 billion, or Rs 675,000 crore) and reputation on the Games and their safe conduct. The Games Village has some eye-catching architecture, and the infrastructure build-up has been no less impressive. It is no secret that China considers these Games as a mark of its emergence on the world stage (as did Japan in 1964 and South Korea in 1988). The US and other western powers have been ambivalent, at best, about this coming-out party, and reports in the western media have reflected the underlying negativism. The last time a rival to the US organised an Olympics (Moscow in 1980), the western countries boycotted the entire event. There have been calls for boycott this time too, on the Tibet issue, though these were confined to the opening ceremony, not the entire Games. All this reflects international power politics rather than any commitment to what people like to think of as the Olympic spirit. Indeed, many people even expect China to overhaul the United States in medals, so there have been negative reports of the methods the Chinese use to get their athletes ready.

Against this backdrop, the world will eagerly watch how China manages the complex logistics of the Games. The country’s disaster management skills have been tested to an unprecedented degree this year. The snowstorm in February, which coincided with the Chinese New Year holidays, during which millions of migrating workers return home every year to be with their families, was a major test for the government. The response, however, was speedy, with the Chinese army deployed to shovel snow off roads and railroads. Then, in May, the south-west province of Sichuan experienced a devastating earthquake — which exposed the seamier side of China. The rampant corruption was exposed in the poor quality of school buildings that collapsed, and the authorities then imposed a crackdown in order to stop the flood of reports on the subject. The earthquake was in turn followed by major floods in the south-eastern province of Guangdong, about a month later. In each of these cases, the rescue and relief operations were impressi.

What remains a matter of concern is the level of pollution in and around the major cities. Here, too, the authorities have displayed a firm hand - ordering millions of cars off the roads and forcing industries in Beijing to shut down temporarily - but recent reports suggest that pollution levels remain higher than safe levels, and higher than many athletes are willing to bear. At least one African runner who was a near-certainty for a gold model has chosen to stay away, and many others have chosen to arrive in Beijing as late as possible, in time for their event. Still, the key takeaway for India, which has its own mini coming-of-age party due in 2010 in the form of the Commonwealth Games, is that focused effort makes a difference.