All eyes on Beijing

August 5, 2008 (0530 hrs GMT): Nineteen percent of world's population will be playing host to the sportsmen and other representatives of all countries of the world who would participate in the historic sports event of Summer Games from August 8 to 24 this year. The run-up to Beijing Summer Games was kept alive for reasons only distantly related to sports and competition. In an orchestrated move, autonomy to Tibet issue suddenly became a topic of discussion in global media a few months ago, even as Beijing worked day and night perfecting the city's infrastructure before the arrival of the Games. There were appeals from several world leaders, celebrities and intellectuals to consider the decade old demand of Tibetan autonomy. Tibetan supporters in several pockets obstructed the smooth passage of Olympic Torch, while Chinese Government was not in a mind to play soft to perpetrators of violence in Tibet.

As things stand, many world leaders and celebrities, among whom Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Angela Merkel and Steven Spielberg are notable, have declined to take part in the opening ceremony of the Summer Games. For China it's a do or die situation. The stereotype of a nation being closed to modern ideals and practices can be proved wrong only if the global community is allowed to rediscover the land and people in a new frame of mind. And that's what China is aimed at achieving in one month's time.

Starting from the problem of low air quality of capital city to the constant threats from separatist groups which culminated in a terrorist strike killing 16 policemen in Xinjiang just four days before the opening of the Games, Chinese authorities have enough problems to lose their sleep. In the midst of all this, how China presents itself to the world community during the Summer Games is for all of us to wait and see.