Matt Schiavenza From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York

Boycotting the Olympics? A Bad Idea

Several influential people, including a US Congressman and presidential candidate Bill Richardson, have recently floated the idea that the US ought to boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games if China doesn't apply more pressure on the government of Sudan to halt the ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The logic behind this idea is as follows: the Olympics are very important to the Chinese government, any irregularities or mishaps will be highly embarrassing, and so therefore the threat of a boycott gives the US leverage in furthering its various foreign policy goals.

Of course, boycotting the Olympic Games for political reasons has happened before. The US and several Western European countries boycotted the 1980 Moscow games to protest the USSR invasion of Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union retaliated by boycotting the Los Angeles games four years later. It's safe to say that neither boycott achieved much of anything other than ruining the dreams of several Olympic athletes.

Why would anyone expect the situation to be different for China in 2008? Does Governor Richardson, or Congressman McCotter of Michigan, really think China will amend its behavior in response to a boycott threat? If history is any indication, China would dig in its heels and feel even less inclined to accede to American foreign policy goals. In addition, a boycott would not bring any sort of desired political change in Beijing. The Olympics are a source of pride for the Chinese people, not just for the Communist Party. Any international effort to isolate Beijing would only result in an increased support for the ruling party, certainly not the desired objective of the US or anyone else.

There are other avenues that the US and Western Europe can take in getting Beijing on board, and most of these entail traditional realms of diplomacy that don't involve humiliating a vital nation of 1.3 billion people.