Sunday, April 20, 2008

Getting What They Wished For

Chinese protesters are upset at Westerners protesting the Olympics torch run:

The latest protests came after rallies on Saturday at branches of Carrefour, which has been subject to boycotts by Chinese consumers over its alleged support of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama -- a claim it denies.

Protesters also targeted the CNN TV network over its commentator Jack Cafferty, who incensed authorities here last week when he called the Chinese leadership "goons and thugs" and slammed China for exporting unsafe products.

"This was a patriotic movement, people want CNN and Carrefour to apologise," Wang Zheng, a protester at a Carrefour store in the northern city of Xian, told AFP by phone.


The Chinese want everyone to notice them and their economic rise. Well, we are noticing what is arising. But what we've noticed is that they are a bloody dictatorship that slaughters its own citizens; represses non-Han Chinese with even more enthusiasm than it represses Chinese citizens; supports thug states like Sudan, North Korea, Zimbabwe, Burma, and Iran; pollutes at will; and threatens democratic Taiwan.

The rise of such a state is not exactly a joyous moment for the rest of the world that is free.

And watching Chinese protesters indignant that we think poorly of their communist government's record is not exactly reassuring, either.