Summary
CHINA has dreamt of hosting the Olympic Games for more than a century. On Friday, it will get its chance. But what is the true face of the nation hosting the 29th Olympiad of the modern era? The West seems divided in its view of China. On the one hand, politicians and commentators denounce China's lack of human rights, its treatment of Tibet and its disregard for the environment. Through this prism, China's mounting of the Games is a cynical ploy to hide the reality of a totalitarian state.
But there is another tale to tell about China, a successful one. How 1.3 billion people have been lifted out of subsistence poverty in barely a generation - perhaps the greatest economic miracle the world has ever seen. How it has abandoned Maoist ideology for a pragmatic capitalism. If the communist leadership still censors the internet in the local coffee shop, that is a far cry from the pogroms and chaos of Mao's cultural revolution. And, yes, China still executes criminals, but so does America.See the full content of this document
Extract
Leader: Let's All Party As China's Dream Comes True
This is not to excuse the deformations in contemporary Chinese society or the limitations of its one-party state. But it is to recognise that there are positive forces as well as negative forces at work in that country. Our best inter...
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