The Olympic torch's journey has set the western media ablaze, giving it the opportunity to rake China over the coals for its policies on Tibet and human rights. The most vigorous protests, in London and Paris, were played out for prime-time newscasts. The more the police, motorcycle outriders and Chinese guards closed ranks, the more protesters clashed with them for the benefit of the cameras. In San Francisco the mayor had to change the torch route at the last moment to avoid assembled protesters. China's image in the West is poor.
This is not the case in Hong Kong. Huge crowds welcomed the torch parade. The usual pro-democracy demonstrators were outnumbered by crowds of ordinary people cheering on the Chinese celebrity torchbearers. These crowds shouted "running dogs" in Cantonese at those championing democracy. No pro-democracy legislative councillor dared march against the torch for fear of losing votes in the next elections. Hong Kong is hosting the equestrian events, and its people have realized that their future lies with Beijing and a successful Olympics.
The West has always thought of Tibet as a romantic Shangri-la, high in the Himalayas, populated with a meditating Dalai Lama and monks in serene monasteries. To China, however, Tibet was a backward society of feudal landlords that kept its farmers--90% of the population--illiterate serfs. Since taking control of Tibet, China has abolished the Indian-based caste system and agricultural serfdom. It has built medical centers, schools, roads, railways and airports, introduced telecommunications and cell phones, increased tourism and raised living standards. China believes in doing what is necessary to integrate Tibet into the 21st-century world. The Tibetans, on the other hand, are fearful. Economic development has attracted too many Han and Hui (Muslim) Chinese settlers, threatening to outnumber the Tibetans and remake their society.
The Chinese are running at fever pitch toward their great moment: the Olympic Games' opening ceremony at Beijing's grand new stadium on Aug. 8, 2008--8:8:8, a most auspicious combination in Chinese numerology. They are furious that protests in other countries are marring the occasion and have flooded their Internet bulletin boards with virulent antiforeign sentiment. Needing little encouragement, masses of outraged Chinese students studying in foreign cities have gathered to out-shout Western protesters. In Paris a one-legged Chinese Paralympic female fencer, in a wheelchair, protected the torch with her body against aggressive protesters. In retaliation people in China blocked the entrances to branches of the French supermarket chain Carrefour. Beijing acted quickly to discourage these demonstrators so as not to spook foreign investors.
It's sad to see the gulf in understanding between Chinese and Westerners. Chinese frustration is captured by Howard French in the International Herald Tribune's Apr. 24 "Letter from China" column: "The need for unanimity in China exacts a hidden price." In it French quotes a Chinese student writing to his Western professor: "How can Chinese people and Chinese media make the foreign world understand the real China?" He also quotes a Chinese person's Internet posting: "What do you want from us? When we were labeled the 'sick man of Asia,' we were called a peril. When we are billed to be the next superpower, we're called the threat."
Will some countries want to boycott the Beijing Olympics? A boycott of these games would not be as cost-free as that of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. China's mega consumer market gives it great economic clout around the globe. The Chinese are confident that when the calamities, protests and Olympic Games are over they will be standing taller and will grow stronger every year.
Image Change
On May 12 a devastating earthquake hit Sichuan Province, killing more than 55,000 people and leaving 25,000 missing and 5 million homeless. Government response was swift. Vivid scenes of the devastation and suffering, with a tearful Premier Wen Jiabao hugging children and babies and assuring people in his soft manner that they would receive help in rebuilding their lives and homes, changed the world's mood toward China. President Hu Jintao and other top leaders went to the sites to bring relief and lend support. In stark contrast, Myanmar's leaders were passive and rejected foreign aid for many weeks while their people suffered. China mobilized all its resources; appealed to the world for tents; accepted help from Japan, Russia, the U.S. and others; and collected donations from its people. Hundreds of millions of Chinese across this vast land and in their embassies abroad observed three minutes of silence on May 19, the first of three days of mourning. The national solidarity, discipline, organization and capability have been impressive. The world has seen a China never seen before.
But this moment of world sympathy will pass, and concerns over China's future role will remain. The West is uncertain whether this huge nation will be good or bad for the world. This tension will only be resolved when both sides approximate each other's worldviews and accept that they will never have identical cultural values.
The Chinese must prove to themselves that they are capable of building a modern nation. For this, China needs a large, well-educated middle class; if and when it gets it, many of them will have been educated in the West and will be familiar with the U.S. and Europe. Then, like the educated of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, they will cease to view themselves as victims of Western imperialism.
Lee Kuan Yew, minister mentor of Singapore; Paul Johnson, eminent British historian and author; Ernesto Zedillo, director, Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, and former president of Mexico, rotate in writing this column. To see past Current Events columns, visit our Web site at www.forbes.com/currentevents.