De Dalai Lama. (Foto Reuters)

There is a lot of truth in some of the arguments ... and yet if the international press, 'bias' or not ,had not taken seriously the task of putting China on the spot of the limelight because of the Tibetan question, human rights violations and other issues then China would just keep carry on business as usual; we must give credit to the international press for that ! ... after all the internet is a great blessing now days in the cause of freedom of opinion and bringing awareness, news travel fast around the globe , of course that is if the internet is not censored !! .. and such exposure all across the globe is bound to have effect if for a moment to try to save a face about the Olympic games ... which as you said is a big charade in the end . And indeed because of the pressure going on then the threats for the moment seem to be harmless ... less hope it stays that way. In the end China needs the world as the world needs China ... we are in it together ! .... and one big gain is that due to the pressure China feels is now taken the step to meet and talk with de Dalai Lama .... something that has been absolutely impossible for so many years !, that is certainly a big and positive step in the right direction.
Lets say that the Olympic games after all have been a great blessing in disguise.

I think that boycotting Chinese goods will not solve anything ... but boycotting western companies that have their products manufactured in China while taking advantage of the poor working conditions in China ..... that , indeed, would be a better strategy so to put pressure on both China and the multinationals in order to clean their act.

The media pressure has worked, the fact that the ship of weapons has turned around heading back to China, the fact that there's dialog now with China and Dalai Lama, the fact that New York Times today reported China will invest millions of dollars into helping Africans to improve their agriculture(even though it's due to current jump in food prices, but I am sure the CCP feels that need to change their policy now with the African nations, towards more humanitarians and economic aids to the grass level, not just to the state level). I would expect breakthroughs, don't be surprised China hasn't actually been conducting business as usual(just recently the former mayor of Shanghai has been sentenced to 18 years for corruption, that was reported in the NY Times as well), they are opening but not at the rate the west would like to see, but to Chinese they had never enjoyed this level of freedom in ages. The real challange is after the Olympics, would Chinese gov't maintain the standards and improve upon it? Of would things go back to before when all the western media left?

There are talks of boycotting the sponsors to the Olympics, Coca Cola, and those companies, I don't think it would work since the Chinese consumers would eat them up, they would completely support the Olympics sponsors. The Western govt needs to pressure the western companies which has factories in China, to abide by standards agree upon by the European Union. Same for the US, but I think on the whole, most of the Western companies factories in China are up to Western standards. But there is a chain of suppliers, so the standards for from the suppliers, the sourcing, to the production factories, all have to abide by international standards. Since now the world is one big factory assembly line.

There's nothing for the west to fear of China's rising, I don't really see any reasons, based on historic facts, China had internal problems, and it was always internal, the govt had never been forceful to the west militarily(China's history of nationalism is unlike Germany and Japan during the World War). I would think the next technological, scientific major breakthroughs would come out of Asia. Everything happens in full circle. Asia(China)invented the compass, the technology to making paper, gun powder, technology of movable type printing, western merchants, travelers then brought those technologies back to the west by the Silk Road and the technologies contributed to the Renaissance, and then the west invented modern medicine, telephone, steam engine, the use of electricity, industrial revolution, to digital technology and these inventions have contributed to the rise of Indian and Chinese industrial modernization, so I think it would make perfect sense that India and China would come up with the next major breakthrough in science and technology which would have great affect to the development of western culture.

Just comes to mind, an ancient Chinese wrote "The Art of War", in it the tactics(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War) were all based on practice through many battles, and in the Persian Gulf War(Operation Desert Storm), Bush Senior and his administration had put some of "The Art of War" tactics into practice, our stupid President, Bush jr. and his administration, violated the very first rule in "The Art of War", which is don't ever use war to resolve unless you absolutely are left with no other diplomatic alternative.

I agree with the IOC's view.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/feedarticle/7486041

West must curb protests on China's human rights-Rogge

* Reuters
* , Saturday April 26 2008

LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - The West must stop hectoring China over human rights, International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge said in an interview.
"You don't obtain anything in China with a loud voice," Rogge told Saturday's Financial Times. "That is the big mistake of people in the west wanting to add their views".
"To keep face (in Asia) is of paramount importance. All the Chinese specialists will tell you that only one thing works -- respectful, quiet but firm discussion.
"Otherwise the Chinese will close themselves. That is what is happening today. There is a lot of protest, a lot of very strong verbal power, and the Chinese, they close themselves."
Rogge's warning came as China, which will host the Aug. 8-24 Olympics in Beijing, announced it would hold talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom it blames for a wave of unrest, state media reported on Friday.
The move comes after concerted pressure from the West on China to talk to the Dalai Lama and marks the first serious step to defuse tensions aside from coming down hard on protesters and lambasting the Tibetans' spiritual leader.
Tibet has become a flashpoint for anti-China protests that have disrupted the Olympic torch relay around the world and has led to calls for state leaders to boycott the Beijing Games.
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"It took us 200 years to evolve from the French Revolution. China started in 1949," Rogge added, noting that was a time when Britain and other European nations were also colonial powers, "with all the abuse attached to colonial powers".
"It was only 40 years ago that we gave liberty to the colonies. Let's be a little bit more modest."
China may not be a role model in the west, said Rogge, but "we owe China to give them more time."
He said the IOC always believed awarding the Games to Beijing would "open up China" and in time this would happen.
"The Games, we believe, will have a good influence on social evolution in China, and the Chinese admit it themselves."
Rogge said his relations with Beijing were excellent, although "they have their priorities and we have ours." He added that sometimes those priorities contradict each other.
However, Rogge noted that the relationship had resulted in two policy changes by Beijing -- a media law allowing 25,000 foreign media access during the Games, and environmental measures to tackle the city's chronic pollution problems."
Rogge said China had given significant ground to the IOC by opening up access to the media, which he expected to be extended into 2009 and believed would be a key factor in the social evolution of the country.
"We have been able to achieve something I am not quite sure that heads of government have achieved much more than we have done," he added. (Writing by Ken Ferris, Editing by Richard Williams) ("Countdown to Beijing Olympics" blog at http://blogs.reuters.com/china)

Original source. This is a very important statement to come out at this time.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/50e2584a-12a2-11dd-8d91-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Olympics chief tells west not to hector China

By Roger Blitz in London and Richard McGregor in Beijing

Published: April 25 2008 09:41 | Last updated: April 26 2008 02:29

"...Mr Rogge questioned whether media attention on Tibet would be as strong if the Games were not taking place in Beijing. “I wonder if Tibet would be front page today were it not that the Games are being organised in Beijing. It would probably be page 4 or 5,” he said.

Mr Rogge said China had given significant ground to the IOC by opening access to foreign media for the Olympics, which he expected to be extended beyond 2008 and believed would be a key factor in the social evolution of the country. China had also responded to IOC concerns about pollution in Beijing and child labour, he added...."

"...South Korea, he pointed out, was a military dictatorship when it was awarded the 1988 Games, and became a vibrant democracy soon after staging them. “The Games played a key role, again by the presence of media people,” he said."