The World Owes China an Apology

When we are invited to a home as a guest we are obliged to behave in a certain way.The invitation is not an opportunity to criticize the host’s family. Nor to call into question the host’s culture, mores or morals. We should not criticize the host’s staff, their food, their home, their ways. To do so would make us unforgivably bad guests and brings shame on all involved.

That said, this is exactly what have done to China in response to their hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games.

President Bush this week, opening the new U.S. embassy in China criticized what he perceived as China’s populations inability to speak out. His comments were inappropriate, out of context and rude; and did little to forge a bridge between our two inter-dependent cultures.

Athletes arrived in Beijing wearing face masks. This was an immature gesture; a slap in the face to a welcoming nation. China has literally moved mountains to ensure clean air for athletes. If air quality offends these visitors they had the option of not attending.

China is not some insignificant country. It is the a world Superpower, second only to the U.S. but with less debt. Indeed China carries a lot of American’s debt and it’s investment in our currency keeps the ailing dollar afloat. It is the seat of one of the earliest human civilizations. It has its own space program – an undertaking enjoyed by only three other continents – the U.S., Russian and Europe.

China was a nation and a culture long before America was conceived. It used piped natural gas when Europe was Dark Continent. It had armada of ocean going vessels – a navy of 50,000 marines - in the 1100s, long before Europeans considered the notion that the earth might not be flat.

The Chinese invented gunpowder, paper, toilet paper, - a plethora of innovations developed centuries - millennia - prior to their discovery in the Western world. It is a home to 1.33 billion people – 1/6th of the world’s population; a country equal in size to the United States. China is a country in transition racing from ancient to modern times at breakneck speed. They are second only to the U.S. in military might.

Yet we speak of the Chinese as if they are barbarians, that their differences make them and their culture less than ours. How pompous and disingenuous - how rude of us.Respect is what is needed.

Respect for the country, its people and culture. We may not see eye to eye on some issues with China but now is not the time, the Olympics are certainly not the venue, to air those opinions.

We are in China to honor the country, the event and the athletes. And when in Rome....