A delegation of Chinese officials paid a special visit last month
to the state of Washington and members of the Washington State
China Relations Council. Led by Liu Jingmin, vice mayor of Beijing
and chairman of the Beijing Olympic Committee of the 2008 Games,
they were granted audiences with some of the most powerful
politicians and business people in our state. The topic of
discussion? Lucrative investment opportunities arising in concert
with the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Backed by the council and such members as Microsoft, The Boeing
Co., the Port of Seattle and the Washington Department of
Community, Trade and Economic Development, Washington is no
stranger to two-way trade with China. It is a partnership that is
political, cultural and most important, economic. Past experiences
have led to more than financial returns and stronger intercultural
ties for both sides; they have whetted the appetites of business
leaders and public officials.
Yet if the financial and political leaders of Washington are to be
so closely involved with investing the fiscal and moral capital of
the people of the state in China, then the people deserve to know
what they are buying into. The Olympics were conceived as a way to
build bridges between world cultures, and the host country should
represent the best of humanity and the spirit of brotherhood the
Olympics fosters.
China consistently has demonstrated a lack of interest in a rule
of international morality, even refusing to ratify international
human rights agreements that would protect the lives and interests
of the Chinese people. Instead, China has invested untold sums of
money in persecuting innocent people, the starkest example being
the four-year-plus government-sanctioned campaign to
"eradicate" the peaceful meditation practice Falun Gong
(also known as Falun Dafa).
All forms of media, the police and military, all branches of
government and social organizations have been used in this
one-sided war against innocent people. Such vigilance requires
massive amounts of capital, of which a great deal has come
directly from overseas investment from such places as Washington
state.
Washington's status as one of the most trade-dependent states in
the nation places it high on the list of those helping to directly
finance the persecution of Falun Gong and those who practice it.
This is dangerous for the future of the people of the state. And
it is dangerous for Falun Gong practitioners being targeted in
China.
Let us hope that, during the Chinese delegation's visit to discuss
investment plans in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, our leaders had the
courage to ask where the money will truly be spent.
Genevieve Long lives in Olympia. Submissions for Our Place in the
World, of up to 600 words, can be e-mailed to
editpage@seattlepi.com; faxed to 206-448-8184 or mailed to the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, P.O. Box 1909, Seattle, WA 98111-1909.
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