Olympic threat !

In just under a hundred days the world will come to Bejing to witness the Olympic games. What sort of reception foreigners will get now seems to be in question !

China has gone to great lengths to showcase China. Massive campaigns have extolled Chinese citizens to flush public toilets after use, cease spitting on the footpaths - and generally behave in a western manner.

All was going well until activists in Tibet used the torch relay to highlight the policy of the Chinese Communist government to downgrade the Tibetan language and culture - and dilute Tibetans in their own land by importing huge numbers of Han Chinese settlers.

The west has long grown used to protests over all manner of perceived grievances. Western governments know that while public demonstrations draw media attention it is short lived. The police keep excesses under control - and in a short space of time the public interest wanes and the subject matter is forgotten.

The Chinese government would have been wise to adopt a similar course, but in their controlled society public protest is unknown. Their reaction to the events in London, San Francisco and Paris was outrage - and when the relay reached Canberra they had a response.

Bus loads of local Chinese were recruited to provide a loyal counterbalance. Chinese national flags were waved, shouting matches and the odd fight broke out - and the media lapped it up.

In China the controlled media were used to whip up public feeling. The torch relay demonstrations were similar in the three western capitals - but China focussed hostility on the French - perhaps because the Paris council chose that time to induct the Dalai Lama as an honorary citizen.

The result was the burning of French flags in the street and the threat of a boycott against French goods. There is every chance that this sudden rise in Chinese nationalism can get out of control and spread to an anti-foreigner bias at the time the nation is expecting a huge influx of visitors from all parts of the world.

The Chinese Communist government has been the force behind this development as it tries to hose down the Tibet issue. Clearly, the Communists simply don't understand the power of the media. They have started something that is now out of their control.

The danger is that this nationalism may over-ride common sense in some sectors of the public. The action of the Chinese people will be under intense media scrutiny during the Olympics. A huge media contingent will be on hand to record the games - and have a long, hard look at China.

Should anti-foreigner attitudes result in incidents this will explode into headlines. All hope of portraying China as a friendly, fast developing colossus as the government hopes will be lost - and the Olympics in Bejing will be remembered with shame.

It depends on whether the Chinese government has the foresight to see the danger it's controlled media is creating - and whether that media has the skill to tone things down and return to the calm that existed before the Tibet crisis erupted.

The success of this coming Olympics depends upon it !