The triumph of the Chinese over the West

Chinese torch-carriers carried the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest yesterday. Ewa Siedlecka criticises this initiative: "The torch was carried to the top of Chomolungma - the holy mountain of the Tibetans - not as a symbol of the Olympic spirit but as a symbol of the triumph of the Chinese government. China's government has proved its power to a world that grumbles endlessly about human rights abuses. ... The only type of pressure that could have been applied effectively - political and economic pressure - was never used. China's powerful elite has succeeded in making the global economy dependent on it and now wields an instrument of extortion with which it has defeated both the US and the European Union. ... China has beaten the West with its own weapons, which just a few years ago were used to force democracy onto Eastern Europe. This is not just a paradox. It is symbolic."

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