Terror and the TV Olympics
Updated on 31 July 2008
Guest blogger Danny Vincent writes about the changing face of China as it embarks on the 2008 Olympic Games.
With the Games starting next week, there is a strange anticipation in the city.
Last night a normal taxi journey into the heart of Beijing was met with several black police cars with silent blue and red sirens ringing. I hadn't seen any before, and I am out almost every night.
From the day that China won the chance to host the Olympics, it became more than just a sporting event. We were told that it would be the story of the year before China even started grabbing headlines in 2008.
"It's going to be dangerous during the Olympics, be careful," my language exchange told me before she left on a 21-hour train journey back to her home province.
"Beijing is like a box. You can get out but you can't get back in," another Chinese friend told me. People are being encouraged to go back to their home towns during the competition, and I am told that once they leave they can't come back to the city until the end of the Games.
Security is on the mind. It is in the news and the word is printed on the back of volunteer's tee shirts across the city. While I am aware of the power a government can possess when even a glimpse of fear is injected into society, living in Beijing this week, I can't but help but take some of the suggestions seriously.
My better informed friends tell me that there is no real capability of terror during the two and a half weeks.
His catch phrase being: "reason 837 why China won't take over the world
An expat friend of mine likes to remind me that the Chinese have decided to place ground to air missiles around the Bird's Nest. An absolute over reaction he claims. But he also lists reasons why China will not become a super power each time he sees something which is inefficient in the city.
His catch phrase being: "reason 837 why China won't take over the world". I don't see so many examples. China splits opinions; maybe the Games will help solve a few unanswered questions.
Talking about the Olympics often brings up two issues. The first is about the 30,000 journalists in the city and what they will make of the pollution, the country, the changes and the next super power. And the second is about security and terror. Sport sometimes pops up too.
I suppose what reminds me of the threat more than what I read or hear is the awareness that terror is the hijacking of the media. There is so much attention on Beijing that even I have been asked by local and international reporters for an interview in the last week.
It is certain that the Games will bring some things. It will bring medals, it will bring world leaders and it will bring the media. This much is true. Some people say that the competition is in danger of becoming a TV Olympics because of visa problems.
Whatever the Games do bring in a weeks time, the world will certainly be watching.
