Asia-Pacific Features
China hopes to overcome torch disaster in homeland leg
By DPA
May 1, 2008, 13:08 GMT

Beijing - China has 98 days left on Friday to recover from the Olympic Torch PR disaster now that the Olympic flame has finally returned to the host country of the Beijing Games.

Protests could still occur on Friday in Hong Kong, but there will be nothing like the scenes in London and Paris where human rights activists effectively hijacked the torch relay to blast China's crushing of the unrest in Tibet and other human rights issues.

That was partly China's fault as the world's most populous country had set up an ambitious 137,000-kilometres torch relay to showcase itself around the world.

'The Olympic torch relay ... was meant to be a time of glory for a rising world power. Instead, it turned out to be a fiasco, with heavy security needed at almost every stop to shield the torch from protesters,' said the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

A Chinese professor told the daily that 'we took it (the relay) too serious.'

The Beijing Games August 8-24 are of immense prestige for China. The communist government has spared neither money nor manpower to set up spectacular venues such as the National Stadium (also known as Bird's Nest) and to improve the city infrastructure.

A steel factory has simply been removed and other potential pollution-causing industries will see their facilities closed for the duration of the Games.

The torch relay named 'Journey of Harmony' was to provide a first taste of the Games to be held under the motto 'One World One Dream.'

But China's crushing of the unrest in Tibet just days before the April 24 lighting of the Olympic Flame in ancient Olympia rather turned the trip into a nightmare.

Activists for the Tibetan cause were on hand that day and in their hundreds at other stops of the international relay which covered 19 stops, most notably in London and Paris.

Chinese nationalism ran high when wheelchair athlete Jin Jing defended the torch against activists in Paris, leading to boycott threats against for instance French retailer Carrefour.

Olympic supremo Jacques Rogge in early April finally spoke of a 'crisis' and the IOC is considering doing away with international legs of future torch relays.

German scientist Gudrun Wacker said that the torch relay 'turned into an ideological and physical battlefield in which China's opponents let out their anger and frustration.'

The Chinese public, subject of media and internet censorship, was taken by surprise by the large scale of the protests. Immensely proud of its Olympics, it turned to nationalism, with only a few critical voices remaining.

Artist Ai Weiwei named the nationalism 'blind' and influential journalist Hu Shuli warned in the Caijing magazine that it was now 'time for calmness.'

The government has finally agreed to resume talks with representatives of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and must be relieved that the torch relay is back in the country.

The Tibetan leg including the ascent of Mt Everest could prompt more protests, but the relay will mainly now be a matter of national pride and celebration until the final torch bearer lights the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony on August 8.

Some speak of 'the quiet after the storm' and have named the protests a blessing in disguise because they came early enough to allow the situation to become calm again in time for the Games.