Print
Email
ShareUighurs and China's Social Justice Problem
Uighur expert Dru Gladney says the protests in China's Xinjiang Province are about social justice for the country's minorities and expresses...
Interviewee: Minky Worden, Media Director, Human Rights Watch
Interviewer: Jayshree Bajoria
May 19, 2008
As the 2008 Summer Olympic Games hosted by Beijing draw closer, China faces increasing pressures for reform on issues ranging from human rights to press freedom. Minky Worden, media director at Human Rights Watch and editor of a new book on human rights in China, says Beijing's promise to improve human rights and open up its society played a significant role in Beijing's selection as the host of the 2008 Games. With less than three months before the games begin, she says, "those promises are not being honored." Worden cites the Seoul Games of 1988 as an important precedent, noting they galvanized change in South Korea. In the period ahead of the games, she says, the country began the transformation from a dictatorship to a democracy. South Korea in 1988 and China in 2008 are "obviously two very different countries," Worden says, but adds: "No country is ever the same after the Olympics." One of the great challenges of the Olympics for the Chinese government, says Worden, is balancing domestic pressures for reform in restive areas such as Xinjiang and Tibet with "the international community's expectations that the country will play an increasingly positive role in crises from Burma to North Korea to Sudan."
Terms of Use: I understand that I may access this audio and/or video file solely for my personal use. Any other use of the file and its content, including display, distribution, reproduction, or alteration in any form for any purpose, whether commercial, noncommercial, educational, or promotional, is expressly prohibited without the written permission of the copyright owner, the Council on Foreign Relations. For more information, write outreach@cfr.org.
Saudi Arabia on the Edge
A leading Middle East scholar pens this "good introduction to the Saudi paradox of social change and political stability and an invaluable guide to the challenges the country faces." More
American Force
An investigation of the use of American force since the end of the Cold War. More
The Struggle for Egypt
A sweeping account of Egypt in the modern era: what Egypt is, what it stands for, and its relation to the world. More
Saudi Arabia in the New Middle East
Gause posits that, though the Arab Awakening has caused tensions in Saudi-American relations, the two countries do not face a crisis and still have significant mutual interests that should be prioritized.
Partners in Preventive Action
The authors assess the strengths and weaknesses of international institutions and provide a set of practical recommendations for how the United States can strengthen the global architecture for preventive action by partnering with those organizations.
Uighur expert Dru Gladney says the protests in China's Xinjiang Province are about social justice for the country's minorities and expresses...
On the twentieth anniversary of China's Tiananmen Square crackdown, six experts reflect on the country's trajectory since then. Many note...
The Beijing Olympics have displayed Chinese pride and prowess in staging a world-class event, while leaving a residue of disquiet about the...
Mitt Romney, president and CEO of the organizing committee for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002, says China should take “symbolic...