As the Olympic torch puts its carriers at risk in many nations, companies are lining up to try their hand at milking a profit from the games and the host nation. If enough money can be made from these international games, China would have a tremendous reason to continue their swing toward a more capitalistic world view. With more than a billion mouths to feed, China feels the pressure to find ways to put more money in the bank.
The world has proved time and time again that capitalism brings a higher standard of living than communism in the long run. China has to offer a more liberal enterprise system in order to attract the kind of investment it desires. Ultimately, it is the taxes and income derived from business that allows nations to build strong infrastructures to enable future expansion and growth.
Just the fact that a secretive private nation like China would open its doors to the world for the Olympic games is enough to signal oncoming change. With the intrusion of television cameras and hundreds of foreign news agencies, China will be hard pressed to remain private. This would indeed be the ideal time to unveil new economic and political programs to the world.
Whether China will seize the day or just continue with business as usual will not be known until the dust settles from the Olympics. This could be China's finest hour on the world stage to date. If enough money hits the table, China may even be persuaded to alter its stand on the many human rights violations that are being made known by various world agencies and nations.
Much of the world will march its business models into China throughout the middle of 2008. China can become educated in the political environment necessary to enable businesses and capitalism to thrive. Their government leaders would then be able to implement changes to their political model. These changes could not only affect the politics within China, but a shift of this magnitude would reverberate across the globe.
If China will show a measure of movement toward free trade, better human rights policies, and democracy, the Olympics could be an opportunity for change on a grand scale. The reality is that probably China will paint the best face it can for a month or so. At the end of the games, it will likely return to business as usual. In between, many business and China itself will fill up the coffers with profits from myriad of tourists and others who migrate to these games.
