On September 18, Sydney’s Chinese consulate invited guests to a feast in celebration of the arrival of the Global Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics arriving in Sydney.
Meanwhile, people from the China Affairs Organization and the China Democratic Support Foundation held a demonstration outside the Chinese consulate. They chanted, “People want human rights, not the Olympics,” and “Democracy and human rights are more important than the Olympics.”
Their intention was to disseminate a clear understanding of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) evil nature to the Australian people and encourage them to keep a distance. Chen Yonglin, China’s former diplomat, showed up for the demonstration. He said that the CCP’s efforts to use the Olympics as a forefront to maintain and legitimize its role are in vain. The following is based on the recording of his talk. As a former consul for political affairs and first secretary of the Chinese consulate in Sydney, Chen had a thorough understanding of the CCP’s evil nature. He stated the CCP once again took advantage of the Olympics to shamelessly glorify itself. His purpose for participating in the demonstration was to expose the CCP. “The Global Law Enforcement Torch Run was used by the Chinese consulate to shamelessly glorify the CCP regime and to present a facade of peace and prosperity. My purpose for being here is to publicly expose the CCP’s human rights violations and unlawful incarcerations of political dissidents. I am here to expose its evil nature.”
Public complaints in China are reaching the boiling point. Chen further mentioned that the CCP is trying fruitlessly to transform its international image and legitimize its role in global politics through the Olympics. “Now public complaints in China are boiling over into violent protests. In particular, the common folk are fighting for their property rights, social injustice is causing many social problems, and thousands are making appeals due to the injustices done to them.
Chen stated that there are growing concerns within the CCP over the Global Human Rights Torch Relay. Facing a threat of a boycott against the Olympics, the CCP is squandering its people’s money by advertising the Olympics abroad. “Seeing that the Global Human Rights Torch Relay has been drawing so much attention from the international community and media that it may pose a threat to the Olympics, the CCP has been mobilizing officials to organize activities abroad to welcome the Olympics. To cover up the fact that the daily income for more than 200 million people in China is less than $2, the CCP is wasting huge amounts of money by hosting and advertising the Olympics abroad. This is totally against people’s will.”
Since his defection from the CCP in 2005, Chen has been making efforts to support human rights activities and help secure the release of imprisoned dissidents. The CCP’s promise to improve its human rights is a lie, he says. The human rights situation in China is worsening. “In 2001 the CCP pledged to improve China’s human rights if it were granted the right to host the 2008 Olympics. However, the fact is that human rights situations in China have been deteriorating. My hometown is in Zhejiang Province. There is a large group of pro-democracy activists, including such conscientious people as writer, Yan Zhengxue, who was arrested last year,” Chen concluded.
The Global Law Enforcement Torch Run for the Special Olympics can be traced back 25 years. This year the CCP first added the international torch relay for the purpose of advertisement. In actuality, China’s human rights situation and its control over freedom of the press are sparking criticism from the international community as the countdown for the Olympics begins. Reporters Without Borders has replaced the Olympic five rings with five handcuffs to serve as a warning to the international community that the agenda of the Beijing Olympics is contradictory to the primary goal of the Olympics.
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