The Chinese-Canadian community is remarkably unified in condemning the protests that have dogged the Olympic torch run and politicized the Beijing Summer Games, says Vancouver blogger Susanna Ng. Ng is assignment editor for Ming Pao, B.C.’s leading Chinese-language daily newspaper. She also writes a perceptive and provocative English-language blog, Chinese in Vancouver. She spoke with Ken MacQueen, Maclean's Vancouver bureau chief.
 
Q: What is your reaction to the Olympic torch run mess?
A: While I’m not completely surprised that protests would go on, the scale and the amount of violence are definitely out of my expectation. It’s ironic to see this same group of people were holding signs that read “Peace in Tibet.”
 
Q: It’s hypothetical but what do you think would have happened had the Olympic torch gone through Vancouver? Will we see similar problems when the Paralympic torch arrives here?
A: If the torch was to run through Vancouver, I’d bet the majority of Chinese Canadians would be chanting along the route, holding parties. I also expect protests to be staged when the Paralympic torch arrives in Vancouver. But the scale will be much smaller, partly because the protesters by then should realize that their violent actions only backfired, and partly because people tend to be more gentle towards people with disabilities.

Q: How would you characterize the internal Chinese-Canadian debate on the issue of the hijacking of the Olympic agenda?
A: So far I haven’t heard anyone in the Chinese-Canadian community who isn’t angry or at least disgusted by all these violent protests. Even some of my friends who are for an independent Taiwan condemn the protests. One told me that pro-independent Taiwanese want to see a successful Beijing Olympics because that would open China more to the world. Plus, Taiwanese want to see their baseball team win the gold medal in Beijing. Bashing China could make it reverse its track back to more conservative, hard-line policies, which would do no one any good.
 
Q: Are there differing views among the business community or recent immigrants versus those who arrived before the Hong Kong handover?
A: I think overseas Chinese are pretty united on this issue. If they were so angry about Beijing hosting the Olympics, they should have protested eight years ago before Beijing got the bid. Disrupting athletes’ Olympic dreams is irresponsible and self-serving.

Q: Are the increasingly strident attacks on China causing people to say, enough, already, quit ganging up on China?
A: I was discussing the same topic with a colleague this afternoon, who has always been the progressive type and advocates for the poor. Even he said that the Western media bias against China and the Olympics, and the unfair attack on China and all the recent violent protests have forced him to stand on China’s side this time. Moreover, the Western media has a united stand on portraying the Tibetan rioters as venting their anger after decades of repression by Han Chinese. I wonder if they believe Han civilians are human beings worthy of some respect. Is controlling the riots, which targeted ethnic Chinese a crackdown? Were the rioters, stoning and killing Han Chinese, not violating human rights? Does letting Tibetan rioters kill Han Chinese on the streets show respect for human rights? I deduce that the West just plainly doesn't believe Han Chinese are humans.

Q: Will the criticism drive China, post-Olympics, to change its international approach, and in what ways?
A: We all know the communists are face-saving animals. While the Western media are criticizing China for not being open enough, China believes it already has opened up a lot. People are freer to move, to express themselves, to invest. More foreign corporations have been allowed to do business in traditionally closed industries such as the financial sector. China sees this openness as gestures of friendship and it expects similar kindness be paid back. The Hu-Wen administration, in insisting on an open path, has resisted a lot of pressures from the ultra-conservatives of the party. When friendly gestures are met with irrational bashing and biases, the progressive sect of the party will find it more difficult to open up the country.