(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-15 07:39

The sacred flame of Olympic Games became the target of violent attacks by separatists seeking "Tibetan independence" and their supporters in London and Paris, says a commentary in Hong Kong-based newspaper Wen Wei Po. The following is an excerpt:

Similar incidents took place in San Francisco as well. There has also emerged from some Western countries, a few European states in particular, such preposterous babbling as "Beijing shouldn't have been allowed to host the Olympic Games".

Highlighted against the broad backdrop of international politics, this sudden outburst of anti-China fanaticism reflects a trend of some sort: certain Western governments are ill at ease with China's rejuvenation and, since they cannot voice their objection to this reality publicly, the recent rioting in Lhasa and other Tibetan-populated areas in China came as a much-needed excuse and the Beijing Olympic Games a perfect breech point for them to set off another wave of anti-China broadside.

(China Daily 04/15/2008 page8)