Time for Bush to Boycott Beijing, and Time for America to Boycott China

By Carlton Huffman

The brutal crackdown by Communist China in occupied Tibet has sparked a storm of protests around the world at a most inopportune time for Beijing. With several months to go before the Olympics the world has been treated to scenes of protesters disrupting the relay of the Olympic torch through Paris and London as reports emerge from Tibet of Chinese troops killing those protesting the occupation of Tibet by the communist regime. It is paramount at this time that we as a nation confront the very real moral issue brought about by the groaning of an oppressed people under the cruel boot of an occupying nation.

The people of Tibet have suffered among the cruelest fates that a nation could suffer since the 1951 invasion of their country by the communist Chinese. Tibet has seen itself annexed, it's spiritual leader forced to flee, and endured attempts to erase the very culture which identifies them as a unique people. Buddhist monks are forced to undergo indoctrination courses which deny and contradict some of the most basic tenets of their faith, something Christians in mainland China are most familiar with as they too are persecuted. Indeed any faith or belief system that would challenge the tyrannical authority imbodied by the Communist Chinese rulers is crushed and forced to go underground to survive. The entire world witnessed the fate of the democratic protestors in 1989 when Chinese tanks and soldiers poured into Tiananmen Square and massacred those who were peacefully calling for reforms. The Chinese government indeed has a record of cruelty and tyranny that is on a scale hardly seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Considering these undeniable facts that China represents everything we oppose in this world whether it is tyrannical oppression of both their own people and the occupied people of Tibet, how can the United States give sanction to this regime by participating in the Olympics this August in Beijing? The Chinese have used this event to promote the legitimacy of their regime and to claim respectability throughout the world despite the heinous acts they execute day in and day out in China and Tibet. If we are anything more then pure hypocrites who send our soldiers to fight tyranny and oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan while giving sanction to even greater evil in China, then we ought to sever the ties that bind us to them. We did the same in 1980 in response to the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan and President Carter was to be commended for his act of principal. During the Cold War we set aside a week every year to pray and honor the Captive Nations of Eastern Europe occupied by Stalin's Red Army and did so up and until the fall of the Iron Curtain. We must stand on principal no matter the offense it might cause the athletes or Sam Walton who stocks Wal Mart with cheap Chinese goods that could be better produced in the United States of America by Americans!

Starting with the Olympics President Bush ought to at the very least boycott the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. This very clear signal to the Chinese would let them know that we are a nation of principal and will not blindly ignore their atrocities in Tibet or indeed throughout China itself. Taking it a step further if we are truly committed to, as President Kennedy stated, "support any friend and oppose any foe for the survival and the defense of liberty," the United States ought to pull our athletes from the games and deny any legitimacy to the cruel regime that occupies power in China. I hope that the readers of this blog will contact your Congressman and Senators and urge them to call on President Bush to boycott the Olympics. And the next time you look at an item your thinking about purchasing that says "Made in China," put it back and look for something worth your while made in a nation that wouldn't make Hitler or Stalin proud.