In his March 21 article, "Tibet and Olympic Games," Gregory Clark claims that countries should not boycott the Olympic Games in Beijing because their reasons are biased and based on a double standard. Although I do not believe politicizing the Olympics is productive, I believe Clark's interpretation of the facts is wrong and strongly oppose his reasoning.
He states, for example, that China's "one child policy" has done much to fight pollution and save scarce global resources. This may be true in hindsight, but the Chinese government did not impose the one-child policy to save the world. It was an inevitable domestic measure taken to prevent severe overpopulation, sustain peaceful development, and further empower the central authority of Beijing.
Clark also argues that past and present wrongdoings of the United States, Britain and other Western countries make them out as hypocrites with no right to criticize China for its sins. If countries were restricted from criticizing because of their past actions, no country would have any say in the world. Any country should be able to address and criticize atrocities by others that harm the peace and order of global society. The Olympics are a chance to bring up issues involving the host country that do not always make the headlines.
We can never justify ethnic cleansing, trading weapons with rogue states, pollution and global warming, suppression of democracy and human rights, among other global issues. China, as Clark states, may be on the right track, but it has too many big bumps on the road for the world to just ignore.
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