Beijing Olympics 2008

Chinese students bully torch crowds

25/04 Paul Maley for The Australian | GANGS of Chinese students have marred the Australian leg of the Olympic torch relay, assaulting, intimidating and harassing vastly outnumbered pro-Tibetan activists as the torch was carried through Canberra's streets.

Last night, the ACT Government proclaimed the event an "outstanding success" after managing to avoid the violence that has marked the flame's passage through Europe and the US.... While the torch carriers were allowed to travel unmolested through the streets, dozens of Tibetan activists were assaulted or intimidated by highly organised groups of Chinese students who flocked from around the country to support the relay.

In one incident witnessed by The Australian, brothers John and Nick Price were forced to jump a barricade to escape a gang of young Chinese men who attacked them after they attempted to walk down Anzac Parade with a Free Tibet banner. ..."We were being pushed and spat on, abused. We were kicked in the back and punched. We were hit with flagpoles. They pushed me to the ground," John Price said.

The Chinese members of the crowds became angry when a plane skywriting the words "free Tibet", bankrolled by Greens senator Bob Brown, crossed the sky.

Referring to reports the Chinese embassy had been involved in organising the students, Mr Stanhope said he was aware of "contact" between the embassy and some of the Chinese groups.

Religious Liberty Organizations Call for Global Prayer for China

30/03 RLP | In a historic move, key organizations that work with the persecuted church around the world launched a global campaign calling for prayer for China.  In what is called “The Zurich Statement,” the Religious Liberty Partnership (RLP) have called the worldwide Christian community to pray for China during this Summer Olympics year. 

The Zurich Statement acknowledges some important progress made in China over the past few decades and raises the hope that this will translate into the removal of remaining obstacles to the full expression of faith and an end to serious violations of religious freedom.

Don't boycott China's shame

- Andrew Bolt - March 2008

How desperately China wanted these Games so it could announce the dawn of the Chinese century. But, after spending a reported $40 billion to show off its glittering new might, China is startled to find it's showing off its pimples instead.

China's troubles started last month with Steven Spielberg, the world's most famous film director, who quit as the Beijing Games' artistic adviser in protest at China's support of Sudan's genocidal regime. The Chinese regime was furious, denouncing the walkout as "unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair", but the damage was done. Millions more people had suddenly learned that China, to secure Sudan's oil for its own booming rise, had sold the country's Islamist regime the very gunships, planes and guns it was using to slaughter countless civilians in Darfur. Many learned, too, that China had even blocked attempts to get the United Nations to stop this genocide.

China - Repression escalates in Lead-up to Olympics

- Elizabeth Kendall, December 2007

Graeme Philipson (The Age, Melbourne) states: 'China will use the 2008 Olympic Games to market itself to the world. All countries do this, but the Chinese example will look more like Berlin 1936 than Sydney 2000.' Philipson's point is that the image will not be real -- it will be a facade or an illusion -- with China using the Olympics to 'airbrush out the full extent of its oppression . . . just like Hitler and the Nazis 70 years ago'. He ominously warns: 'Visitors to China next year will see the new stadiums and the expressways and skyscrapers and apartment complexes. They will probably even be able to access their hometown newspapers on the web. They will probably not stop to think that the 1936 Olympics were followed by the most vicious repression the world has ever seen.'

China - Surveillance Increasing As 2008 Games Approach

- Jerry Dykstra - September 2007

The bottom line - all is not well as the Olympic Games draw nearer. The Beijing Olympics will be held August 2008.

We may not have heard many similar reports in the international news because the Chinese authorities are pursuing a "softer approach" in order to present an "all is well" façade to the global community.

We do not know if these increasing crackdowns and measures are related to the Beijing Games. It's possible the situation will improve after the rest of the world packs up and goes home next year, or it could continue because of the "success" of the control measures.

Chinese Government launches nationwide campaign against uncontrolled religious activities

- Michael Ireland - September 2007

The Chinese central government has launched a nationwide targeted campaign to clamp down the so-called "illegal religious activities" since mid-July 2007.

China Aid Association (CAA) www.chinaaid.org says reports indicate massive arrests have occurred in at least 8 provinces including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shanxi and Anhui. Some are still being detained for receiving bibles while some were persecuted by having their water and electricity cut off by the government because of hosting Sunday schools at home.

Human Rights

China & Human Rights - by Gordon Moyes - November 2007

From an early age I was deeply moved by the plight of persecuted Christians in China under the Communist regime, which came to power in 1948. As a teenager, I prayed for them and was not able to do much more than that until 1997 and 1998. Then, with help from the Bible League, my wife and I joined a group that smuggled thousands of Bibles into China for the underground Christian church. Although border guards caught some members of our group, we got through and travelled by train the length and breadth of China, delivering Bibles to persecuted Christians. A number of my books have been published in Chinese and more than 1.5 million have been sold in China.

Chinese Church

Nine House Church Leaders sent secretly to labor camps in Hubei Province - by Michael Ireland - October 2007

After nine House Church leaders were missing for almost two months, only recently have their relatives been officially informed by authorities that the nine pastors have been sentenced to re-education through labor from 12 months to 18 months.

China Aid Association (CAA) says that among them, 42-year-old Ms. Li Mei has been serving her one-year sentence in a hospital of her county with both hands chained with her bed. She has to have a hysterectomy surgery because of the repeated beatings and torture she received during her detention time from July 15 to August 15. Another female church leader, 33-year-old Ms. Qin Daomin, is temporarily serving her sentence at home because she has a 2-year-old child for which to care.

Population

'Chen Guangcheng: Exposing China's Brutal Population Control Tactics' - Assist News - 2006

China is the only country in the world where it is illegal to have a brother or sister.
For more then 27 years, China has brutally enforced its compulsory "one child policy." This vicious means of population control is also a perpetual source of contention between China and its Western allies.

During diplomatic meetings and trade talks, China minimizes or denies forced sterilizations and forced abortions.In 2005 a young blind activist highlighted the gravity of the situation to the world, refusing to let China deny it any longer.

Chen Guangcheng, affectionately called the blind "barefoot lawyer" by local villagers, is one of the great human rights activists in China.

Organ Transplant

China Bows to World Pressure - by Gordon Moyes - October 2007

"China has bowed to world pressure to end its practice of human organs being forcibly removed from prisoners and sold on the Western market”, a member of the NSW Parliament, said today.

Dr Gordon Moyes, a CDP Member of the NSW Legislative Council and a strong supporter of human rights, has been advocating world pressure on China to stop the illegal harvesting of human organs without the owner’s consent for several years.