Sir, - There has been much comment within the media about the negative aspects of the decision to award China the 2008 Olympic Games, but there has been little attempt to highlight the positive aspects of that same decision.
It will, in conjunction with the recent decision of the World Trade Organisation to admit China, hopefully open the Chinese economy up to even larger investment. The large increases in the standard of living that have occurred in China, particularly in the western regions, are often ignored by Western commentators.
If the boom in western China can continue, as a result of the building boom that will occur in Beijing and the influx of foreign companies and tourists, the Chinese people will benefit. It is an undisputed fact that as people improve their economic standard of living, the desire for strong state rule begins to wane.
The Chinese people turned to communism as a result of the appalling economic and social conditions and the desire for a stable and strong government. As the people of China rise above the poverty line and contact with the "democratic" world increases, the demand for political reform will increase, as happened in South Korea and Eastern Europe. The fact that the people of Eastern Europe could see on their television screens the "better" world of Western Europe, was a major and often overlooked cause of the fall of communism.
It should be remembered that the only thing that prevented the descent of Western Europe back in to totalitarian regimes at the end of the second World War was the Marshall Plan. The experience of post second World War Europe and the failure of democracy in parts of Africa, most notably Zimbabwe, have much to do with economic conditions.
If the Chinese people turn to democracy now, as many "human rights" groups demand, without proper development of the economy, I fear that China will descend much like many "developing" nations in Africa and Asia into corruption, anarchy, increased crime and possibly fratricidal war.
If the decision to give China the 2008 Olympic Games opens the economy even more and increases the prosperity of the Chinese people as well as giving them increased contact with the "developed" world, it can only be good for the long term.
Depriving China of the Games would only encourage its horrific regime to become even more insular and nationalist than ever before. - Yours, etc.,
John J. Carroll, Ratoath, Co Meath.