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Best wishes for Beijing

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-30 07:32

Last Monday's bomb explosions on public buses in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southwestern China, killed two passengers. Chinese authorities have concluded the blasts were "deliberate acts of sabotage", but that is about all they have been able to ascertain.

With the Beijing Olympics set to kick off on August 8, one cannot completely dismiss the possibility that the acts were intended to disrupt the Games. We hope investigators will find the answer soon.

Even before the explosions, Beijing was already on high alert. Stringent security checks were being enforced at airports and train and subway stations, obviously in order to prevent acts of terror.

Earlier this month, the government of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region announced that it had killed five members of an outlawed militant group of Uygurs seeking independence from China during a raid.

Riots have been erupting in some parts of China, triggered by causes ranging from forced evictions of people from their homes to the death of a teenage girl whose body was discovered last month. But in some cases, there is a deep undercurrent of popular mistrust of the authorities, especially the police. And in some areas, with disaffected citizens heading for Beijing to petition the central government, local police forces are on edge, too.

In addition to heightened security, Beijing has introduced a plethora of tougher measures to deal with air pollution and traffic congestion. To cite just a few examples: some factories in and surrounding provinces of the capital have been shut down; vehicles that do not meet certain emission standards have been banned from Beijing's streets; and traffic is regulated by vehicles' license plate numbers, with even-number vehicles and odd-number vehicles taking turns.

We can appreciate the desire of Beijing and many Chinese citizens to enhance China's national prestige through the Olympics and ensure the Games' success. It is only natural to take every necessary step to that end, and it is also Beijing's duty to protect the safety of the athletes and spectators.

However, there are many challenges that China must overcome if it is to move on to the next stage of development after hosting the Olympics. The Chinese people themselves should be acutely aware of this.

We pray that the Beijing Olympics will be peaceful and terror-free. At the same time, its true worth will be tested after the Olympics.

The Asahi Shimbun

(China Daily 07/30/2008 page9)