Fukuda dismisses calls for boycott of Beijing Olympic ceremony

Thursday 03rd April, 06:19 AM JST

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7 Comments

rjd_jr at 10:06 AM JST - 3rd April

Unfortunately I fear for the Japanese athlete's even more in light of these recent events. The Chinese government and many of its citizens are SO looking forward to the Japanese athletes because they need something to take away the heat from their Tibet and other human rights violation issues (among many other things). What better way than to trump up Japanese atrocities such as the Nanking massacres during opening ceremonies and throughout the olympics. I truly fear for them, the japanese athletes don't deserve the trash they are going to face.
kaminarioyaji at 11:00 AM JST - 3rd April

rjd_jr

I doubt it, the Tibet issue has been a proper thorn in the side of the Chinese this close to the olympics; they certainly wont want anymore international heat being brought on them. So, although their hand was somewhat forced by the Tibetan rioting, theyll probably shy away from going out of their way to get into any more trouble. Besides, Fukudas tactic is a good one in that by not further alienating the Chinese (by boycotting the opening ceremony), Hes buying the Japanese athletes some grace.
fds at 11:08 AM JST - 3rd April

“At a time when the Chinese government is making efforts to settle the issue, I don’t think our country should say whether we will participate in the Olympics or not”

boycotting the open ceremony is not a decision not to participate in the olympics. although with all the money the japanese have invested in china and close proximity, i can understand why they wouldn't want to piss them off.
Hikozaemon at 12:09 PM JST - 3rd April

Japan wouldn't consider a boycott on its own, so I think it's a non-issue. However, rjd has a point - remember the anit-Japanese violence and hooliganism by nationalist Chinese sports fans during the Asian Cup soccer? It seems that China has some anti-Japanese historical date every few weeks that gets people riled up - let's hope that no such date occurs during the Olympics, and that if crowds get out of control, the authorities do what they are doing in Tibet to control their people.

Peace
timorborder at 02:07 PM JST - 3rd April

And Japan is off to a flying start.... As Hiko says, Japan is not going to decide on a boycott itself, as usual, it will look to Uncle Sam and friends before committing one way or the other. Then again, if a boycott is decided upon by the big boys, Japan is going to look pretty stupid if it has to back track in a hurry.

With regard to whipping up anti-Japanese hysteria at the Olympics, I don't see this happening at the current time. Despite Tibet, it seems like the Premier of the PRC is going to visit Japan before the Olympics. This will put the Chinese in debt to Japan because nobody else of note wants to give China the time of day at the moment. Japan might call in this IOU to make sure that nothing happens during the Olmypics. You also have to remember that Fukuda (a really pro-Chinese PM) has the guanxi with China to make things happen (mostly inherited from his dad). Moreover, China, in its current condition of xenophobia (there being a potential PR disaster under every rock) will not let its population (or security forces) run wild during one of the biggest sporting events on the planet. If China were to loose control of its population (and the population started to single out Japan for "special treatment" at the Olympics), its international image would be set back 20 years or more.
Hikozaemon at 10:16 AM JST - 4th April

Timorborder - I wish I shared your optimism, but I can't help but think that 1) There will be jeering when the Japan team comes out at the opening ceremony (hence the government being wary about allowing the Emperor to attend), and 2) At events where Chinese will be competing against Japanese, that misbehaviour will be unavoidable.

I'm thinking swimming events and soccer in particular - remember the Seoul olympics when Korean boxers wouldn't accept decisions against them? I am thinking that this kind of incident would be riot material in China, no matter what the authorities do. We all like to think that because China is a dictatorship, that the authorities have complete control over what people there do, but I think that this is not necessarily the case, and some "let's be nice" public announcements around the Olympics won't reverse a lifetime of anti-Japanese education, and years of official encouragement of public demonstrations against Japan.

I share your hope that the authorities do keep the lid on things, as they were unable to in other recent sports tournaments. Frankly, I would enjoy the irony of seeing Chinese nationalists getting beaten up and dragged away like subversives by the authorities.

Speaking of dragging back its international image, interesting to see a "subversive" put in jail today for advocating democracy (when the country already claims itself to be democratic). I get the feeling that China is caring less and less about presenting any image other than that of a modern economic powerhouse.

Peace
Blue_Tiger at 10:36 AM JST - 8th April

I wish that the leaders of the free world would at least have the gumption that French President Sarkozy has, to at least seriously consider and weigh the idea of a boycott of the opening ceremonies. Personally, I believe that every freedom-loving country in the world should boycott the games themselves, because as far as human rights issues go, Red China has the worst record in the world (tied with North Korea -- the reason why Red China's record isn't talked about is because she has become the world's media darling and just about every country in the world wants to have some sort of economic relationship with her). The fact that Tibetans and their supporters are causing such havoc with the Torch Run is making it glaringly obivous that Red China will not be let off of the hook....