Games show China's strength, mask fragility

BEIJING, Aug 7: "Faster, higher, stronger" is the message from China that will resonate at the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday and during its battle with the United States for global sporting supremacy.

The Games are about much more than sport, of course.

For one analyst, the picture of China's Communist Party basking in national triumph amid glittering stadiums could be a "Sputnik moment" -- akin to the emerging Soviet Union's stunning launch of a satellite in 1957 - one that, for many in the West, will inspire as much fear as admiration.

And yet that picture glosses over the fragility of a nation beset by pollution, energy strains, social unrest and rural poverty, all of which were laid bare in the run-up to the Games.

These have become party-spoiling leitmotifs of the Beijing Games story, along with condemnation of China's human rights record, anger over its restrictions on media and Western doubts about its will to reform and act as a responsible global power.

"Whatever the longer-term implications of the 2008 Olympics, what has transpired thus far bears little resemblance to Beijing's dreams of Olympic glory," U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations senior fellows Elizabeth C. Economy and Adam Segal wrote in a recent paper, "China's Olympic Nightmare".

"Rather than basking in the admiration of the world, China is beset by internal protests and international condemnation."

China's rapidly expanding economy has become a crucial locomotive as recession looms around the globe. It is no longer the "sick man of Asia", and Beijing's Olympics will be an in-your-face confirmation.

"For China, this is the crystalisation of three decades of modernisation, a big show and tell, their big moment in the sun," said Victor Cha, head of Asian studies at Georgetown University in Washington, and a former White House adviser on Asia.

For all the dividends of China's burgeoning trade and investment links with the outside world, however, a 'rising China' is seen by much of the West as a threat.

The United States, in particular, is anxious about the regional ambitions of a country of 1.3 billion people whose military spending is rising sharply and shrouded in secrecy.

The world's superpower is also suspicious of the economic stakes that China is claiming in Africa and Latin America as it scours the earth for raw commodities, and it worries about Beijing's clout as a heavyweight holder of U.S. debt and its hefty share of US imports.

Drew Thompson, director of China studies at the Nixon Center in Washington, DC, said the spectacle of a modern and confident nation could bolster nationalistic pride among Chinese, fuelling anxieties abroad.

"That Sputnik moment is very much from a grassroots sense of how the scenes from Beijing are going to play out," he said.

"What's going to transmit are the buildings and what an impressive effort this is. This is not a tottering regime, this is not a basket case, and the Games are going to put that fact on full display."

An outpouring of patriotic fury earlier this year, directed at Western targets seen as sympathising with Tibetan riots and protests against Chinese rule, was evidence for many of the dark side of China's rise.

French goods were boycotted after protesters tried to grab the Olympic torch on its parade through Paris and some foreign journalists in Beijing were bombarded with hate mail.

"...what foreigners saw was not a rational, open and tolerant China stepping into the world, but rather a closed, aggressive and furious China stepping into the world," wrote Zhao Lingmin in a commentary in China's current affairs magazine South Breeze.

In the run-up to the Games, President Hu Jintao has sought to portray China as a "harmonious" country whose rise threatens no one, and the government has carried out education campaigns to discourage raucous shows of nationalism.

Cha noted that although the government sometimes manipulates outbursts of nationalism, it is a double-edged sword. "It's a very dangerous thing for the leadership," he said. "Today it will be directed against NBC for negative broadcasting about the Games, but tomorrow it could be directed against the leadership."

The flash of rioting in Tibet was followed by an earthquake in the province of Sichuan that killed at least 70,000, turning global disapproval to global sympathy overnight.

For Kerry Brown, senior fellow of the Asia Programme at the Chatham House think-tank in London, these two events -- in very different ways -- captured the fragility of modern China.

"This great economic juggernaut that scares and worries so many people outside China contains within it deep weaknesses and problems," he wrote on the website www.opendemocracy.net.

He told Reuters that a chief weakness is deep-seated social inequality and poverty, particularly among the hundreds of millions of migrant workers "on whose sweat, blood and tears modern China is built" but who today are disenfranchised.

Such issues may be brushed under the red carpet at the Games but will re-emerge. The West will also demand that China use its influence to calm troublespots from Tibet to Sudan and Myanmar.

"The level of foreign expectations after the Games will get higher, not lower," said Cha. "People will be asking China to do more."

Beijing Olympic flame ends chaotic Paris journey

PARIS, April 7: The Beijing Olympic flame ended its chaotic relay journey through Paris Monday, marred by citywide protests against China's crackdown in Tibet that forced the torchbearers to take refuge in a bus.

The flame arrived in a bus escorted by around 30 police officers for a ceremony at the Charlety Stadium after its journey by foot was cut short half way to its final destination.

Moments after the Olympic torch set off from the Eiffel Tower, protests forced the organisers to extinguish the torch, and place the flame on an accompanying bus for safety.

The torchbearers were forced on and off the bus at least four times, until organisers finally cut short the relay, skipping a planned ceremony at Paris city hall.

The Olympic torch was lit again for a brief ceremony outside the stadium, in the presence of French swimming champion Christine Caron, and extinguished one last time at around 6 pm.

The Olympic flame itself, transported in a safe lantern, was taken away by several members of the Beijing Olympics organising committee.

From Paris the flame leaves on Monday night for the Americas, with stops planned in San Francisco on Wednesday and Buenos Aires on Friday, on the latest leg of a worldwide tour from Greece to Beijing.

Smooth relay of Olympic torch will be ensured: India

NEW DELHI, April 7: India has said it will ensure smooth passage of the Olympic flame with "respect and security" as discussions continued in the government on measures to provide foolproof protection.

With China worried over the India-leg of the torch relay because of presence of large number of Tibetans, top officials of the government are busy in chalking out the arrangements to ensure trouble-free event on 17th April.

China is also understood to have indicated that a team of its commandos will arrive in India a few days ahead of the torch relay and would provide the proximate security to the flame during its run on Rajpath.

"As far as the Government of India is concerned, we are committed to provide complete security to the Olympic Torch," Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma said.

Asked about reports that China would be sending security personnel for the torch relay in New Delhi, Sharma said he had no knowledge about it but maintained that Indian government has given an assurance that it will take all measures to provide foolproof security.

"We are confident of ensuring the relay of the torch in India with respect and security. Our officers and security agencies are capable of providing complete security to the Olympic torch," he said.

The issue of torch security is understood to have figured in a meeting between Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta.

Sehwag hits fastest triple ton as India reaches 468 for one against SA

CHENNAI, March 28: A belligerent Virender Sehwag presided over a bowlers' bloodbath and blasted an unbeatean 309 as India responded emphatically to South Africa's massive first innings total in the first cricket Test in Chennai on Friday.

The dashing right-hander wielded his willow like a sword and cut the South African attack to ribbons during his 292-ball blitzkrieg that powered India to 468 for one at stumps on day three.

Sehwag thus equalled his career best score of 309, also the highest Test score by an Indian, which he had recorded against Pakistan in the 2004 Multan Test.

India now trail the visitors by 72 runs and Sehwag and Rahul Dravid (65) will return tomorrow to first wipe out the arrears and then establish a lead.

Sehwag's savage innings, the fastest triple century in the history of Test cricket, was studded with a staggering 41 fours and five sixes.

He bettered Matthew Hayden's 300 off 362 balls against Zimbabwe in Perth in 2003-04.

Resuming on 82 for no loss this morning, Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer (73) gave no leeway to the South Africans and with the Delhi opener on song, Jaffer was content playing the second fiddle.

Sehwag reached his 14th century in his 92nd innings in style, hitting Jacques Kallis to long off boundary.

Jaffer, however, could not reach the ton that looked up for grabs and departed when Jacques Kallis caught him off Paul Harris.

Jaffer's sedate 166-ball knock included six hits to the fence beside a six and though he missed out on a personal milestone, the Mumbaikar had played his part in the 213-run opening stand with Sehwag.

Smiles on the South African faces, however, vanished soon as Sehwag went berserk. Once he neared 150, Sehwag looked in tremendous hurry and Morne Morkel bore the brunt of his belligerence in the 61st over when he was hit for three boundaries.

It was then Harris who incurred Sehwag's wrath and the spinner was hit for three successive boundaries as the batsman's strike rate exceeded 100.

At 193, Sehwag did what probably only he can and went for a six. Even though he did not connect the Makhaya Ntini delivery properly, the big flourish of the bat was enough to send it soaring over the long leg boundary for a six.

Ntini's next ball yielded three runs and Sehwag posted what entered the record book as the third quickest double-hundred in Test cricket that came off just 194 balls. He in fact took just 23 balls to reach 200 from 150.

Nathan Astle's 153-ball double century against England in the 2001-2 Christchurch Test remains the fastest, while Sehwag stood second in the chart for achieving the landmark in 182 balls against Pakistan in the 2005-6 Lahore Test.

Records kept falling by the wayside and Sehwag went on to post the highest individual score at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Earlier, the record stood against Sunil Gavaskar's name following the batting great's 236 against West Indies in 1983-84.

Even after Sehwag reached 200, there was no let up in South Africa's misery and the batsman took just 31 balls to complete his 250.

There was no signs of nerves even when he was nearing his 300. Then at 291, Sehwag stepped out to send a Harris delivery soaring over the sightscreen.

In the next over, an Ntini full toss was flicked for a single and Sehwag reached the 300-mark for the second time in his career, off just 278 balls.

Sehwag's batting pyrotechnics so dominated the proceedings that hardly anyone seemed to notice Dravid labouring his way to his 52nd Test half century.

Dravid was unbeaten on 65 after facing 181 balls and hitting eight fours.

Meanwhile, Ntini's reputation as a premier bowler took a beating on an unresponsive track and against an unforgiving Sehwag with the South African conceding 99 runs in his 18 overs of wicketless toil.

Harris did return with a wicket against his name but the left-arm spinner bled 141 runs in his 36 overs.

Brief scores:

South Africa 1st innings: 540

India 1st innings: 468 for one in 106 overs (V Sehwag 309 batting, W Jaffer 73, R Dravid 65 batting).