They do, however, nurse an almost neurotic longing to be seen by the world as a great nation, or at least a normal one. And as always in this kind of situation, there is a case to be made that however distasteful it may be to give added legitimacy to a lawless dictatorship, it is still worth doing so because China will be further opened up thereby. This argument seems to me much less potent than it was 20 years ago. Information about the outside world is not in short supply in China nowadays. Any Chinese person who wants to see a Hollywood movie, read the collected speeches of Al Gore, or browse National Review Online, can do so with only a modest investment of effort and ingenuity, and negligible fear of punishment.
Foreign tourists flock to China already.
A few months before the opening ceremonies in Moscow, Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan. More than 60 countries, led by the U.S.A., stayed away from the Games in protest. A great many things could happen in or around China between now and 2008. Still, I think the main argument against giving the Olympics to Beijing is that the Chinese government wants the Games so desperately much. We should not give these tyrants anything they want, unless the giving will shift the balance of power away from them and to their people.