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CNN Saturday Morning News

Will Hosting Olympics Positively Impact China?

Aired July 14, 2001 - 08:06   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: An American business professor has been ordered expelled from China for spying. Li Shaomin, who was detained in February and charged with espionage in May, was found guilty by a Chinese court just hours after his trial began. The Chinese government alleged that Shaomin had spied for Taiwan and had harmed China's national security. The purported evidence against Shaomin has not been made public.

The rapid trial, the conviction and the order of expulsion of Li Shaomin coincided with Beijing's triumph with the International Olympic Committee, which awarded the 2008 Summer Games to the Chinese capital. CNN senior Asian correspondent Mike Chinoy explains the impact that the modern games may have on a very ancient city.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN SENIOR ASIAN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is a country that built a great wall to keep foreigners out, where the Opium War of the 1800s, when Britain seized Hong Kong is, through movies and books, seared into the national consciousness along with other humiliations at the hands of Western powers. A country where the Communist Party came to power with Chairman Mao Tse-Tung declaring that the Chinese people have stood up.

Now, Beijing is to host the ultimate international event, the Olympics, the ecstatic crowds in the streets underscoring the depth of China's yearning for respect from the international community, an intense, almost desperate longing that staging the Games may go a long way towards fulfilling.

Yes, we have stood up now, says this man. Getting the Olympics will give us a lot more confidence. I think we all feel China has stood up, says this woman, that China is great.

But even as Beijing returns to normal after its wild celebration, the controversies that surrounded China's bid remain, especially over human rights. Just hours after the IOC decision, the trial got under way in this court of U.S. citizen Li Shaomin, one of several ethnic Chinese with American connections detained and accused of spying in recent months. Critics claim that giving Beijing the Games will only legitimize government repression.

But on the streets, you hear another view. China is still closed to the outside world in some ways, says this man. But holding the Olympics will help open people's minds, especially about Western culture. After winning this bid, I believe China will experience unprecedented economic, cultural and political openness.

(on camera): There's no doubt the ruling Communist Party will use the Olympics to bolster its own prestige. But many here say that seven years of steadily increasing contact with the rest of the world will generate new forces for change and could make China in 2008 a very different place than it is today.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to Olympic sports, few people are more experienced than Bud Greenspan. He's world renowned when it comes to capturing Olympic drama and pageantry on film. Now this producer of sports films has leant his expertise to the Chinese in making the promotional film presented to the Olympic Committee.

Bud Greenspan joins us now from Moscow with his thoughts on the selection of Beijing. Hi, Bud.

BUD GREENSPAN, PRODUCED FILM TO IOC: Good afternoon or good morning or whatever it is. I think it's afternoon here and morning where you are, right?

PHILLIPS: A combination of both. Listen, what was your reaction when you found out that Beijing was selected?

GREENSPAN: Well, we've been following Beijing since 1992 when they lost out by one vote to -- or two votes to Sydney, Australia. And it was just another victory for us and for the Chinese people because they have come a very long way since coming back after 50 years of absence from the games in 1932, coming back in 1984 in Los Angeles. I knew then that the American people were behind the Chinese introduction into the games as a host nation when they were, entered the stadium on opening day in 1984 and the crowd gave them a tremendous ovation, which meant for me that they wanted the Chinese back in full.

PHILLIPS: All right, we're going to roll a little clip from your promotional video and then I'm going to ask you some questions about it. Here we go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NARRATOR: Two hundred eighteen men and women athletes and 50 coaches from the People's Republic of China march into the Los Angeles Coliseum for the opening day ceremonies of the 23rd revival of the modern Olympic Games.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Let's talk about this. You do include a lot of history. What was the main focus of this film and what was your goal? GREENSPAN: The goal was to present the Chinese people to the United States and the world in a different way than they've been presented by the media in the past decade or so. They are nice human beings. They are great athletes. They are very responsible. They are very gracious in their response to us.

And I, before I went to Beijing a few months ago, was of the opinion that all they had was bicycles. They have magnificent hotels. They have magnificent arenas. They can host the games. And they're looking, as that Chinese interview you did a little while ago, looking to open up the country so that people can come in and teach them. They won't outwardly say that they want to be taught, but that's what the indication is. They want to have the world to come to Beijing in the year 2008.

PHILLIPS: Bud, did you address the issue of human rights abuses at all in this promotional video?

GREENSPAN: No, it wasn't touched at all and we didn't think it was necessary to touch on it because the newspapers and the media had taken care of that by itself. It was a straight historical, interesting, informative, and, I think, dramatic video that was well received by the IOC members. And I think there were three or four IOC members on the bench in that second round, the video, without being too self-serving, pushed them over the top in voting for Beijing.

PHILLIPS: What do you think it was in the film that sort of clinched the bid and opened up the eyes of the IOC?

GREENSPAN: I think it's a little self-serving that I think it would have clinched the vote, but I think if there were three or four IOC members on the fence, it certainly moved them into a new look at what Beijing was going to be like in the year 2008.

PHILLIPS: Do you believe that the Olympics will force change in China and deal with issues like human rights abuses?

GREENSPAN: Boycotts never have forced any change. We know that from 1980 and 1984 when the Soviet Union boycotted the American Games with Los Angeles and Los Angeles and the Americans boycotted the Moscow Games of 1980. Mitt Romney, who's running the Salt Lake City Games in -- that are coming up in the next four months, came out with an expression yesterday which I think everybody should pay heed to, and that is it's better to build bridges than to build walls.

PHILLIPS: Well, it'll definitely be interesting to see what happens as this continues.

Bud Greenspan, thanks for joining us and talking about your video -- Brian.

NELSON: Well, only one city can host the Olympic Games at one time, which means the celebrations in Beijing are in stark contrast to the disappointment felt elsewhere, and one city that was mentally ready to win the 2008 Olympics was the city of Toronto, Canada. As John Lancaster of CTV in Toronto tells us now, the city is looking toward yet another Olympic bid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN LANCASTER, CTV REPORTER: From here, the streets of downtown Toronto, were a sea of swelling emotion. Then, just after 10:00 A.M. local time, the bubble was burst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUAN ANTONIO SAMARANCH: The games of the 23rd Olympiad in 2008 are awarded to the city of Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LANCASTER: Most Torontonians believe that despite China's history of human rights violations, the international Olympic community was sold on Beijing. Still, many were disappointed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But we had some stiff competition going into it and I think we knew that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very disappointed. I really wanted the Olympics in Toronto.

LANCASTER: For months, Torontonians had rallied around the bid only to see their chances snuffed out in a matter of minutes. For 13- year-old national team gymnasts Danielle Hilliard (ph) and Brittnee Habbib, there won't be any hometown Olympics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it would have been a great experience for it to be here so we could actually get a chance to compete in our own country.

BRITTNEE HABBIB, GYMNAST: There is always the next Olympics and I hop[e we can get it then.

LANCASTER: In Toronto's bustling Chinatown, reaction was mixed. Richard Wang (ph) fled Beijing four years ago.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Chinese has been looking forward to having the Olympic for decades, for many 100 years.

LANCASTER: Despite the loss of the bid and the planned construction of thousands of low cost rental units, Toronto poverty activists were delighted. In the end, it was a clean sweep for China, the world's most populated country.

(on camera): Toronto's loss could well become Vancouver's gain. Many observers feel that city's 2010 Winter Olympics bid is now all but a lock.

John Lancaster, CTV News, Toronto.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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