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Page 1 of 3 An opinion article titled 'China Should Not Host 2008 Olympics' was published in yesterday's Collegian, a student newspaper at Colorado State University. We were shocked to see the author Phil Elder equalized China government to German Reich/Nazi.
Below is an official response from the Chinese Students & Scholars Association at CSU:
Dear Collegian Editor,
Many of us have viewed Phil Elder’s article “China should not host 2008 Olympics” on your March 12th issue. We understand that Collegian is the platform of free speech, and therefore we would like to express our opinion as an organization representing the CSU Chinese community.
In Mr. Elder’s article, Olympics served as a tool for his political attacks towards the Chinese government. The goal of Olympism is to promote a way of life based on “Respect for universal ethics including tolerance, generosity, unity, friendship, non-discrimination and respect for others”. It is disappointing to see that Mr. Elder’s article is short of Olympism.
The analogy between today’s Chinese government and the old Nazi German or the new Stalinist USSR is so ridiculous and absurd. It is obvious that Mr. Elder is still having this cold war mindset. We would appreciate it if Mr. Elder could spend more time investigating current China before presenting his opinion.
Each country has its own issues, and so does China. However, what Mr. Elder failed to see is Chinese government’s effort to improve every aspect of the country. We believe that Beijing Olympics will provide a chance for the rest of the world to better understand China.
Welcome to 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China!
Thank you very much!
Colorado State University Chinese Students & Scholars Association
Below is a response composed by Jessica Gu:
Are you kidding me, Phil?
by Jessica Gu, Wednesday, Mar 12, 2008
When I looked at the article "China should not host 2008 Olympics", the first thing coming to my mind is " are you kidding me, Phil?"
Phil Elder compared the Adolf Hitler's government with current Chinese government, which absolutely frustrated me. As a Chinese student who are studying in the Journalism Department at CSU, I recognize the strength of Chinese government, as well as the weakness .
Yes, as a developing country which focused mainly on economic development in the past years, China does have the pollution problem, and Chinese government is working on that. But it sounds that Phil Elder doesn't agree with the behavior that Chinese government shut down some factories which had serious gas pollution problems. Phil, are you trying to tell China not to work on the pollution issue? Is the reason strong enough for not hosting the Olympics in China? America always has serious debates about weapon controls, but I never heard that someone use that as a reason that America shouldn't host the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
How China won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing is through their preparation and hard working shown to the Olympics committee, not through any politics/military force. China showed the committee that how China/Chinese government is willing to improve itself and contribute to the world development. China failed in the bid of 2000 Olympics, which encouraged it to make improvements in the aspects of enviroment, finance, and human rights, etc.
China wants the world to understand it more, which is the main reason why Chinese government is so eager to attend the bid. All the words I have seen from Phil's article is only hatred, no understanding for communism political system, no respect for diversity at all. People should not blame others just because they are different.
China is changing, and the world is changing too. Chinese government brought out a philosophy of "peaceful society, peaceful development", which discusses that Chinese government does care about the world and other groups, at the same time of developing China. Chinese goverment starts to pay more attention on the situation of peasants in the rural areas and laid-off workers as well. That is totally different from Nazi's government. I believe that the philosophy matches very well with the philosophy of Olympics Games.
There are 132 Chinese students studying at CSU. On top of that, we have dozens of postdoctors/researchers at CSU. Has Phil done any interviews/chats with the groups from China to see if they have any problems back to China? Has Phil been to China to have a look by himself? Has Phil tried to be fair when he speaks out? How does Phil dare to slander a country's effort like that?
Phil, I want you to keep the article for 70 years and look at the article that time again, you will know how silly these words are. People will know what is the truth and what is the lie 70 years later.
This response below was written by Ye Hong, previoius CSUCSSA President:
From: Ye Hong (ydhong[at]gmail.com)
To: The Rocky Mountain Collegian editorial board
Date: March 16, 2008
Subject: China and Beijing Olympics - Response to Mr. Phil Elder's
article, "China should not host 2008 Olympics", published by the Rocky
Mountain Collegian on March 12th, 2008
It was shocking to read the article by Mr. Phil Elder, published by
the Rocky Mountain Collegian on March 12th, 2008 in the Opinions
section, for its ignorance and prejudice, insulting attacks, and false
facts, let alone its deficiencies in its logic, reasoning, and quality
of the article in respect of a senior CSU student majored in political
science.
The comparison between China and Nazi Germany is entirely ungrounded.
China has been restoring since only less than thirty years ago from a
period of more than 130 years of suffering, including invasions since
1840s by numerous countries and the consequent large bills of war
indemnity due to losing each war, the 1937-1945 Sino-Japanese War, the
Civil War, and political chaos afterwards.
China has used only a few decades to catch up with industrialization
that she fell behind hundreds of years ago. Thus, it's no wonder that
China has problems. But if people of those invading countries will
only complain and unaccountably boycott the Beijing Olympics, rather
than constructively communicate and promote mutual understanding and
improvements, I think they should be reminded of their country's
contribution to China's current situation they feel unsatisfied.
China has greatly improved its stance on human rights and made a lot
of progresses these years. The authority of final approval of a death
penalty was taken back to the Supreme Court, warranting a substantive
decrease of the number of death sentences. The Law on Real Rights was
finally enacted in 2007 after thirteen years of debates and eight
readings by the congress.
Furthermore, disregarding those falsehoods, even the individuals
mentioned in Mr. Elder's article, both Dalai Lama and Tom Lantos,
refuse to participate in the boycott.
The 1980 Russia Olympics was boycotted because its invasion of
Afghanistan. Those who advocate boycotts Beijing 2008 Olympics should
also consider organizing a boycott as well of all those countries that
are now occupying Afghanistan and those that invaded Iraq in 2003. And
also please point out a country that China invaded during the time
frame.
I studied in Beijing from 1998 to 2006, and worked here again since
last month. I have witnessed that the Beijing municipal government has
been working extremely hard on the environment, especially since the
winning of the bid. Through those years Beijing's pollution situation
has been continuously and significantly improving.
Developed countries have contributed to the environmental crisis since
hundreds of years ago while China began its development phase less
than thirty years ago. It is estimated that the average American still
pollutes between five and six times more than the average Chinese
person. "Responsibility for China's soaring emissions lies not just in
Beijing but also in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo," said Greenpeace
UK director John Sauven, "All we've done is export a great slice of
the West's carbon footprint to China, and today we see the result."
Even if air pollution is decisive, then it would have also applied to
Mexico City, Los Angeles, and Athens.
In China, in a legal sense, animals are only carriers of their owners'
property right. Please consider its developing status and large number
of rural people in poverty even after the thirty years' economic
boost. There is no official animal right or animal welfare concept in
China laws. While it is valid and encouraged for anyone interested to
promote animal right and welfare in China, it looks naïve and
ridiculous to relate the topic to Olympics.
Mr. Tom Lantos' comments of "bribery and threatening", made a few days
before China won the bid, were not followed with supporting evidence.
During the television, he was questioned for substantial evidence
about the "bribing of Chinese" but did not produce a response. Mr. Tom
Lantos' comment and the complete dialogue can be found at pbs.org.
Did you, Mr. Elder, boycott the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics after
the bribery was proven?
It is obvious that the article was poorly written. Apparently Mr.
Elder did not even conduct a serious research or check with immediate
sources for writing the article.
The article cites the wrong name, Lesh Donlup, who actually is only a
messenger and passes Mr. Demetrius Klitou's citation of Tom Lantos'
speech, who is the real source. Even worse, Mr. Elder copied Mr.
Klitou's speech "…Congressman Tom Lantos, have stated this on national
television" but replaced the word "stated" with "testified".
In my opinion, Mr. Elder should withdraw his article and officially
apologize for his unfounded insults, attacks with falsehood, negative
impacts he and his article has made on the Chinese community at CSU
and Fort Collins, and the malicious abuse of his right of freedom of
speech.
I regret that the Rocky Mountain Collegian, who represents CSU's
student image, failed to perform adequate inspection and allowed such
an article to appear. I think the Collegian should withdraw Mr.
Elder's article and its editorial board should apologize for its
mistake.
Short bio of Ye Hong
Ye Hong was a PhD student of CSU in Electrical Engineering and former
President of Chinese Students and Scholars Association at CSU. During
his presidency of the Association, he worked for and helped
international students attain a fair CSU health insurance policy. He
now works in Beijing, China as a patent agent.
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