by Simon Elegant/Beijing, Time April 14, 2008##ReadMore##
What were the Communist Party cadres in
And therein lies something of a mystery. How could Chinese authorities have missed the potential for Tibetan protest? It was no secret that groups ranging from disaffected Tibetans to human-rights activists would try and take advantage of the Olympics to exercise some leverage for their causes when
Indeed, if
Even though Chinese authorities have had almost two decades to learn the lessons of Tiananmen Square—after which it spent time in the diplomatic doghouse—the events in
Then, when the reaction did come, it was straight out of the standard communist playbook, phrased in language reminiscent of the worst excesses of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution. The violence was blamed on that “jackal dressed in monks’ robes,” as one official described
‘People who have devoted their careers to “opposing splittism” can’t stop chanting that mantra.’ –Perry Link, |
Link points out that leaders such as President Hu Jintao are of a generation that got “Soviet-style educations” in the 1950s. “They don’t have the knowledge or imagination to make better decisions,” Link says. Leaders operate under a system of collective decision making that constrains the state’s ability to be flexible in the face of new challenges. Hu is painfully aware that his political position may well rest on the outcome of moves he ratifies on big issues like
This insecurity underlies the central government’s heavy-handed tactics and rhetoric, even though repression reduces the country’s stature in the global community. “When the rest of the world looks at
This lack of flexibility in spite of the looming Olympics is worrying, says Nicholas Bequelin, a
It’s a storm that threatens to blow in just when everyone’s watching—and deciding whether they want to participate in
The authorities will no doubt make it virtually impossible for journalists to enter