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CNN Live At Daybreak

China Awaits 2008 Olympic Games Decision

Aired July 09, 2001 - 08:44   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hosting the Olympic Games can mean a lot of money and a lot of publicity for a city and the host of 2008 Summer Olympics will be chosen in four days.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. The three top contenders, Paris, Toronto and Beijing. We're going to profile all three cities for you this week. Perhaps the most controversial bid is from the Chinese capital.

Senior Asia correspondent Mike Chinoy reports now on Beijing's bid.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE CHINOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A decision won't come until Friday, but they've been dancing in the streets here for weeks. Promotional events like this tango in Tiananmen Square whipping up public enthusiasm for Beijing's drive to host the 2008 Olympics.

(on camera): But more than any other contender, Beijing's bid is surrounded by controversy and has become something of a referendum on China's standing in the world.

(voice-over): The country's authoritarian communist rulers desperately want the legitimacy the Olympics would confer. Opponents say giving Beijing the Games would simply be condoning repression.

REP. TOM LANTOS (D), CALIFORNIA: China's abominable human rights record violates the spirit of the Games and should disqualify Beijing from consideration.

CHINOY: In the early 1990s when Beijing was campaigning to host the 2,000 Games, dissident Wei Jingsheng was freed after 14 years in jail. He supported the Games then. Re-arrested after Beijing's bid failed, he's now in exile in the U.S. and has changed his mind.

WEI JINGSHENG, EXILED CHINESE DISSIDENT: Back then the U.S. and the international community were pressing China on human rights. That's why I was released. Today there's no pressure, so giving Beijing the Games would only encourage China to further violate human rights.

CHINOY: The only other time the Olympics were staged on the Asian mainland, however, in Seoul, South Korea in 1988, there was a different outcome. Fearful of losing the Games, strongman Chun Doo Hwan yielded to pressure from student-led protesters demanding greater democracy.

LEE CHONG-MIN, YONSEI UNIVERSITY, SEOUL: The worst thing that Chun Doo Hwan and company wanted was to have a very bad image of his regime barely a year before the Olympics were to be held in Seoul. So, yes, that was a major source of external pressure.

CHINOY: No one expects the Olympics to spark such a radical change here. But many Chinese see the Games as an important catalyst for reform.

JIA QINGGUO, BEIJING UNIVERSITY: I think one cannot exaggerate the role Olympics can change, can make change in a fundamental way.

CHINOY: With tens of thousands of foreign visitors expected, supporters argue that the Olympics would force China to open more to the rest of the world and generate heightened international scrutiny of the government's behavior. And there's widespread agreement that improvements to the capital for the Games would lead to an improvement in the overall quality of life, including moves to curve Beijing's notorious pollution. It's hardly democracy, but many of those who favor the Beijing bid believe staging the Olympics will help China become a more open and modern society.

Mike Chinoy, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: All right, all of this week leading to Friday's announcement, we're going to be taking a look at the main contenders for you.

LIN: Tomorrow we're going to head to Toronto, Ontario. What is that city doing to capture Olympic gold? That's right tomorrow right here on CNN LIVE AT DAYBREAK. And you can visit our Web site for complete Olympic bid information -- the address there is CNN.com.

MCEDWARDS: That's right. You just go there and click on in depth through there. The site's going to look at the bidding process, information on human rights issues in China, facts about the Olympics, much, much more for you. So happy hunting.

LIN: That's right.

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