Hundreds gathered in Shandong today to watch the countdown to the 100 day marker until the opening of the Beijing Olympics, but as they cheered there are continuing critical reports in the Western media over abuses of China’s human rights record. Last night’s Channel Four News highlighted how Muslims in north-west China are under increased scrutiny by the authorities. Lindsey Hilsum, rarely one to place China in a positive frame, talked to Muslims who said they were fearful of Chinese authorities, who, they say, curtailed their religious practices. Many Uighur Muslims who live in Xinjiang province complain of heavy handed tactics by Chinese state police. Indeed the Chinese authorities have said that some Muslim factions have been ’infiltrated’ by al-Qaeda elopements and pose a threat to the Beijing Olympics. Already there have been several reports this year that the Chinese have thwart terror plots aimed at disrupting the games. Khotan, in the south of the province has seen protests and arrests of Uighurs demanding better treatment. Lindsey Hilsum says many of the 8 million Uigher population want independence and that they’re afraid to speak in public. In her report a drama portraying Uighur terrorists is shown to highlight the ‘state propaganda’ which paints a dark side of the Muslim people. According to the authorities though, the threat is real. Wang Lequan, Communist Party Secretary of Xinjiang province, says “They have links with people outside China, some people came to Xinjiang just top help them with this attack. From the material we got from this group after we captured them, we know that their goal was to specifically to sabotage the staging of the Beijing Olympics”.
Meanwhile in Tibet, 30 people have been convicted over their role in the riots in Lhasa in March. The sentences vary from three months to life in prison [BBC].
Amid the domestic crises, China continues with its Journey of Harmony taking the torch through North Korea and Vietnam. In Pyongyang there was no sign of trouble, but there were arrests during its short journey through Ho Chi Minh City despite high security. Seven were taken into custody by police after scuffles on the last part of the torch relay before arriving in the Chinese mainland [CNN / BBC]. While the flame heads to Hong Kong, a separate flame has made its way to a base camp at the bottom of Mount Everest. But the small core of Western journalists have complained that they are unable to cover events and are being kept uninformed over the itinerary. The BBC, which only gave a minute to the story today, said the group of journalists were being “very heavily controlled” by Chinese authorities. Reporting from Mount Everest, BBC’s Jonah Fisher said they arrived at Lhasa airport but were not allowed into the city itself and were swiftly conveyed to the base at the foot of the world’s tallest mountain.
The report on CCTV-9 was upbeat by contrast. And, as is often the case, the report was out of date, despite being broadcast Live. Despite having already being completed, CCTV spoke of the Vietnam part of the relay as though it was yet to happen.
The report concerning the coverage of the Everest ascent was also positive. Nineteen Chinese journalists and 11 foreign reporters from 7 organisations were amongst the group to arrive at the media centre in Qomolangma. Despite exclusions on previous media tours, the BBC and CNN were amongst the group which also included Reuters. The CCTV report focused on the hospitality offered to the journalists and spoke to a Reuters reporter who said he was “impressed with the food” adding that it was “very fresh”. But there was no mention of when the flame would reach the summit.
CNN’s Tomas Etzler spoke of how none of the reporters were allowed to leave their base and said he had been ill informed over the schedule of events but was putting pressure on the organisers to get more information.
Meanwhile back in Shandong, while Olympic supporters cheered, others were in mourning following China’s worst rail disaster in 11 years. Excessive speed has been blamed for the crash which killed 70 and injured more than 400 near to the town of Zibo [CNN / BBC].
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