Where I Stand—Mike O’Callaghan: 2008: A repeat of 1936?

Friday, July 13, 2001 | 4:17 a.m.

Mike O'Callaghan is the Las Vegas Sun executive editor.

LONG BEFORE the International Olympic Committee met in Moscow last week, Beijing had a lock on becoming the 2008 site for the Olympics. Some of those protesting the awarding of the games to China were beaten up by Russian police to let them know where that country's vote was going.

Beijing's Jiang Xiaoyu said it best when telling the press, "We don't worry too much about the human rights." This remark was made about the time the world learned of more deaths and torture of Chinese Falun Gong members held in the Wanjia Labor Camp in Harbin City.

Last week during the IOC meeting, China staged its most serious war games in the area of Taiwan. They were the largest and most complex maneuvers since 1996. This year's exercises simulated missile attacks and troops landing on and around Dongchan Island. These are believed to be the military tactics that will be used if they attack Taiwan.

President George W. Bush made it clear that the U.S. government wouldn't object to Beijing being the host in 2008. Some critics have good reason to believe that big international business firms in our country influenced the White House. Probably more than that is the ability of the president to count votes and see that China had more than enough Third World votes to win the award. Of course, the 1,300-member American Chamber of Commerce of China did show open support for the site selection of Beijing. NBC, Coca-Cola, McDonald's, General Electric are, along with other corporate sponsors, licking their chops as they look at the market of 1.3 billion Chinese people.

Even more interesting were the remarks by some congressional leaders like House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. In killing a resolution to oppose the games going to China, Armey said, "I think there are many ways we can express our anger with the Chinese government without that (resolution)." Armey's approach to the issue wasn't surprising but Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake City Olympics, going along with the Red tide sweeping the Olympics into Beijing wasn't expected. Romney, a businessman and promising politician, must have forgotten some of his training at home.

All this nonsense about giving the Olympics to China so it will help open that country up to the rest of the world and improve its treatment of people is silly. Little by little any progress made in that country will have to come from the Chinese people up and not from the top down or the outside. The Olympics will come and go and will only have the impact the government will allow it to have.

Remember how Adolf Hitler used the 1936 Olympics to show the world the glory and power of Germany? Just imagine, with the use of television, the show China can put on for the world in 2008. If they haven't done it before 2008, they can then invade and capture nearby Taiwan as the rest of the world still has the sound of Olympic music in its ears. Hitler went on after his 1936 show and killed millions of people, many of them Americans.

May I suggest, now that the dastardly deed has been accomplished in Moscow, it's our responsibility to closely monitor China. If that country hasn't drastically changed its treatment of people and nations by 2007, then our president should have the courage President Jimmy Carter displayed in 1980 by telling the U.S.S.R. that Americans weren't going to the Olympics in Moscow.

Don't tell me that politics shouldn't enter any discussion about the Olympics. I can't recall the absence of politics in the Olympics during the past 65 years. Neither can you, unless you want to overlook Hitler; African athletes boycotting the Montreal games and Canada not allowing Taiwan to compete; U.S. black athletes demonstrating in Mexico City; or the slaughter of Israeli athletes at Munich. Even our own games in Atlanta had a bombing and other political problems, and the U.S.S.R, as payback, refused to participate in the Olympics held in Los Angeles.

We must insist that China changes or we won't be there in 2008.