Tiananmen, the "Gate of Heavenly Peace"

For seven summer weeks in 1989, it seemed there could be a new and better China.

A crowd of more than a million, led by students, camped in Beijing's vast Tiananmen Square, peacefully calling for an end to repression and corruption.

Instead, the tanks rolled in and crushed these civilian protesters — some of them literally, inside their tents.

Wan Weilin, a 19-year-old student, stood in the path of the tanks, begging the soldiers not to kill their fellow citizens. He was dragged to safety, but it is not known what later happened to him.

Since then, surviving student leaders and suspected sympathizers have been hunted down and imprisoned or killed.

And the repression goes on.

Another chance

China made a huge effort to get the Olympic Games for Beijing in 2000. It was turned down, on human rights grounds.

It waged another campaign, competing with other great cities of the world, to get the Games for 2008.

It made a specific promise to the International Olympic Committee that it would substantially improve its notorious "human-rights record". On this basis, it won this second bid.

If — against all odds — China could be persuaded to honor that promise, the memory of the brave demonstrators of 1989 would also be honored.

What we hope for

China was desperate to get the Games, and is desperate for them to be a success.

This is a brilliant chance, such as will not come again, to persuade China that its reputation is highly at risk.

We are approaching the end of this sensitive time: the Games will start on August 8.

The Games will not be called off. No country will stay away — there's no chance of that, and we're not suggesting it. Athletes will not lose their chance to gain fame in 2008.

But the audiences could be far short of what the Chinese authorities hope for.

That is what they fear.

The 2008 Games have already been called "The Genocide Olympics" because of China's support of the Sudanese regime; they could be called "The Firing Squad Olympics", "The Organ-Sale Olympics", "The Smog Olympics", and much more.

The fear of a public-relations triumph turning into a public-relations catastrophe is what might just make China consider some quick and massive reforms.

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