Cha- Countdown to Beijing & Beeson- the Weight of History

The two main themes from Cha's excerpt are the fact that the Olympics has always been a political event and the Beijing Olympics are no different and that China has been trying to change its image and policies in light of the scrutiny the Olympic Games brings. These two themes overlap- the international scrutiny that the Olympics brings only illuminates the political issues that China has.

China wants the Beijing games to show how much ecomonic and political progress they have made in the past century. China wants the Beijing Olympics the show that China is no longer the "sick man" of Asia and is now a modern nation. But China might not be as modernized as it wants to be. Cha explains how China has built a new airport, torn down "hutong" neighborhoods, banned one million cars from the city, and planted trees to absorb carbon dioxide in an attempt to show modernization and improve itself for the Games. But some of these "fixes" seem to be short term, rather than long term fixes that would make China truly modern.

Cha states that "Beijing must find a way to join its controlled and closed political system with the classical liberal ideas of individualism, open competition, and respect for human dignity embodied in the Olympics." This shows how China's political issues and ideas are coming under scrutiny because of the Olympic Games and that China must find a way to improve their politics. Cha states that China has cooperated with North Korea and Iran over climate issues because it helps China's interests and not because of Olympic ideals. He also thinks that "movement on trade, currency reform, and product safety would reflect Beijing's interests in avoiding trade wars" rather than shifting towards more "Olympic" ideals. Cha also describes how China is under pressure to change some of their human rights issues and their foreign policy. China has codified the state's constitutional responsibility to safeguard and respect human rights, which is an embracing of Olympic ideals. Also, China had been under scrutiny because it sells arms to and buys oil from Sudan while ignoring the ongoing genocide in Darfur, but it has recently begun cooperating with the UN instead of continuining its previous trade practices. these small gains show how China is willing to change policy in order to be more representative of the Olympics.

Cha also mentions how the 1988 Games in Seoul and the 1964 Games in Tokyo were a catalyst for change in both Korea and Japan. The 1988 Games in Seoul showcased South Korea's rapid economic growth and prosperity and the 1964 Games in Tokyo shifted Japan away from a wartime mentality. Cha thinks that the 2008 Beijing Games have the potential to do similar things for China. Of course, China wants the 2008 Games to show how prosperous and economically sound they are and to transition China into an era of more positive international cooperation. Cha states that the 2008 Beijing Olympics is the third time since 1896 that the Summer Olympics were held in Asia. Because of that statistic, the Beijing Games hold even more significance for China's international relations and will really become a way for China to prove that they are modernized and capable of being an important part of world politics.

Beeson mentions several times how competitive China and Japan are. This competitiveness shows how much pressure Beijing is under because of the Olympic Games, especially because Japan hosted the Games in 1964 when China was a communist state that wouldn't have been able to host the Olympics themselves. Much of the preparations that China is taking now are a reaction to the competition that exsists between China and Japan.