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America’s China Crisis - Skrufff.com

Reported by Tristan Ingram on May 2, 2008

America’s State Department this week advised a formal travel alert for China this week, advising tourists to ‘maintain a level of vigilance’ and to avoid ‘large public gatherings’.

"Any large-scale public event such as the upcoming Olympic Games may present an attractive target for terrorists," the alert cautioned, “There is a heightened risk that extremist groups will conduct terrorist acts within China in the near future.” (Reuters).

Tom Pattinson, Editor in Chief of Time Out Beijing, downplayed the danger though said there has been ‘a growing rise of nationalism in China in recent weeks in response to the Olympic torch protests, the international media coverage of Tibet and China generally.’

“There is certainly an increased feeling of anti-foreign sentiment that can be felt in Beijing especially targeted at Americans because of CNN’s coverage and the French because of the mayor of Paris giving the Dalai Lama honorary citizenship. This could easily erupt in violence but is certainly not terrorism,” he suggested,

The British Beijing expert told Skrufff that Chinese authorities appear to be actively attempting to calm nationalistic sentiments though said that nightlife is unlikely to be normal until the Olympics finish in September.

“Last week the Midi Festival – Beijing's largest music festival - was cancelled a week before it was meant to commence although all foreign bands had permits to play. This is the latest in a long line of foreign acts to be 'postponed' including Groove Armada and Celine Dion's shows both scheduled for April and May,” Tom told Skrufff.

“All large scale public events seem to have been postponed until after the Olympics in what seems to be an effort to stop large groups of young people congregating. There were around 20 foreign acts that were meant to perform at Midi Festival. If one of them "did a Bjork" and started shouting ‘Free Tibet’ you can just imagine 20,000 kids going mad and trying to rush the stage,” he said.

The former Sunday Times journalist also pointed out that the situation remains delicate, with journalists particularly at risk of offending local sensitivities.

“Many Chinese people didn't realize the intensity of the global media spotlight that would be put on Beijing because of the Olympics and are now shocked to discover that the western free press is not just writing positive stories,” he pointed out.

“We (Time Out) were told 'no negative Olympic stories' from January this year and this is the same for all national media so when the local Chinese population see that people in France, America and the UK are protesting they are genuinely shocked and surprised that everyone isn't over the moon that China is hosting the Olympics,” he said.

“The number of foreign media coming to Beijing is increasing by the day and their need to get a story is meaning that there is a huge amount of global interest in China right now. Therefore you see a hell of a lot of old clichéd stories about China coming out in the western press. A lot of these are rubbish and detrimental to what the journalists that have been here for years are doing. However CNN and at least 10 other foreign journalists have been getting death threats and have had to change phone lines and email addresses.

There is a huge flood of foreigners coming into China so the government have restricted visa access, meaning many expats who have been here for years may have to leave the country before the Games,” he added.

Meanwhile in Shanghai, international DJs including DJ Pierre and Tiesto each attracted thousands of revellers in recent weeks with Tiesto’s fashion themed Armani event prompting more pressing concerns for local newspaper Shanghai Daily; namely dress codes.

“Be it huge or small, rave or cocktail, each party has its own dress code,” said style journalist Michelle Zhang.

“There is nothing more dreadful than wearing the wrong outfit to a party - don't laugh,” she continued, “Some partygoers in Shanghai still have no idea what "dress code" means. It's not surprising to bump into people in sports wear at luxury fashion parties, and vice versa,” she complained.

http://www.timeoutcn.com

Jonty Skrufff (Skrufff.com)