沪江论坛社区-- 听听【The Economist 】NO.52 北京奥运的安全隐患 (参与即奖励100hy)

Security for the Beijing Olympics
Orange is not the only protest
Athens, London, Paris, San Francisco...please not Beijing
WHEN Chinese officials talk about security threats to the Olympic games, they use the term loosely. They worry not just about terrorist attacks, but about behaviour in the stands that poses no more of a risk than embarrassment to the hosts. As the Beijing games approach, saving face is becoming an ever bigger priority.

Western security experts say that following the recent unrest in Tibet, their Chinese counterparts seem all the more anxious about potential problems that people would normally pay little heed to. Preventing access to stadiums by fans wearing politically incorrect clothing is one. Officials worry, for example,that innocent-looking spectators might lift outer ____ to reveal T-shirts with slogans calling for Tibetan independence. Expecting a strict dress code, activists have been urging protesters simply to wear the colour orange.

China's fears began to escalate even before the rioting erupted in Lhasa on March 14th. On March 2nd Björk Gudmundsdottir, an Icelandic singer usually known by her first name alone, shocked Chinese officials by calling out “Tibet, Tibet” after performing her song “Declare Independence ” in Shanghai. The Ministry of Culture has responded by tightening controls on foreign shows.These include more rigorous vetting of play lists and a ban on impromptu features such as encores. Even child actors are attracting closer scrutiny.

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China has been talking up the threats of terrorism from Muslims in its western region of Xinjiang and has spoken of possible suicide-attacks by Tibetans. But the threat of peaceful protest is a far bigger headache. It is becoming all the more so as a result of public anxiety about food-price inflation. The 30th anniversary in December of China's market-oriented economic reforms is fuelling debate among intellectuals about the need for political reforms to match. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 showed inflation and political discontent to be a volatile mix.

The unrest in Tibet has helped to rally support for the leadership among ordinary Chinese. Many agree with the government that the West is showing too much sympathy for Tibetans who carried out racist attacks (the government avoids mentioning numerous peaceful protests by Tibetans in recent weeks). But a surge of nationalist sentiment now being whipped up by officials also carries risks. Death threats made against several Western journalists for alleged bias in their reporting on Tibet suggest a real danger of violence.

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[此贴子已经被作者于2008-4-14 10:11:15编辑过]