BEIJING - During ancient times, the Olympic flame was seen as a symbol of peace, brightness and friendship, said to have ended wars and extinguished hatred wherever it traveled. In modern times, however, the magic of the torch has been shadowed by disruptions and violence.
Jin Jing holds on tightly to the torch to keep it away from attackers during the Paris leg of the relay April 7, 2008. [Xinhua] |
The recent Japanese leg of the Beijing Olympics torch relay in Nagano was marred by Tibet separatists and other forces who hurled eggs and tomatoes and rushed at torchbearers. A Chinese student was reported injured and online pictures showed him bleeding from the forehead.
The scene was reminiscent of earlier legs in Western countries, notably Great Britain, the United States, and France in particular, where several vandals shouted "Tibetan independence" slogans and grappled with Chinese wheelchair fencer and torchbearer Jin Jing in an attempt to wrest from her the torch.
"The Dalai Lama clique wanted to seize the torch relay as a chance to grab the world's attention, so as to tarnish the image of China and use Western countries as a tool to pressure China on the Tibet issue," said Zhalog, a Tibetan researcher with the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"The Dalai Lama repeatedly declared during his visit to Europe last year that 'the Olympic Games might be the last chance for Tibetans', appealing to foreign countries to associate the Tibet issue with the Olympics while they hold talks with China," said Professor Zhu Xiaoming with the China Tibetology Research Center.
Playing the Tibet card
The Tibet issue was brought to the fore on March 14, when the holy city of Lhasa, capital of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, was rocked by a deadly riot. It later spilt over to other Tibetan-inhabited regions in neighboring Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces, in acts of assault, vandalism, looting and arson.
On the heels of the unrest were reports of attacks on a dozen Chinese embassies and consulates by rioters, including those in the United States, India, Britain and France.
The violence was followed by distorted and biased media coverage in foreign countries. Germany's RTL news television said that it "regrets an error" in covering the riots in Lhasa by using a picture "in the wrong context", while other major foreign media such as CNN and BBC were continuously under fire from angry Chinese netizens.
The latest outburst of indignation from the Chinese was targeted at a lopsided media report in Paris, where the torch relay was hampered and where later the mayor made the Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of the French capital. While local television stations devoted lengthy footage to Dalai Lama's supporters, Chinese flanking the relay route with national flags could hardly be seen.
