Neil Conor: Chinese whispers give a completely false impression of how things are

Aug 7 2008 By Neil Conor

After a trip to China, I felt the full force of a country with an appalling human rights record, and it has left a sour taste in my mouth.

When I arrived at the airport, I was forced to remove items of clothing during a humiliating drugs search where I was asked a series of exceedingly personal questions.

My wife was given the full intimidatory passport check, being questioned by eight imposing, rude men for two hours before having her eye scanned and finally let through Customs.

Even my mother was pulled aside and given a drugs check, in a land which imposes statutory four-year prison sentences on people carrying poppy seeds in food and over-the-counter substances such as codeine.

It continued when I got out of the airport.

I was almost pushed to the ground by security guards when I made the mistake of putting a beer can in my cooler bag when I was in the hotel lobby. A male friend of mine was told to change when he made the mistake of leaving his T-shirt by the pool.

All the beaches except one were shut to most tourists – and the only public beach had a list of rules as long as the coastline.

Anyone who takes notice of most commentators in the British media would not be surprised if this Orwellian nightmare I was describing was the land which is launching the Olympics tomorrow.

But this is what I experienced on the way back from China, when I stopped in Dubai for a couple of days.

Just to put the record straight.

There was no behaviour from anyone in my party resembling that of the woman who allegedly threatened a policeman when she was caught frolicking in the sand.

But then I should consider myself lucky. Keith Andrew Brown was given a four-year prison sentence after he was found with 0.003g cannabis in his shoe.

The amount of the drug found would not be visible to the naked eye and weighs less than a single grain of sugar.

It’s cases like this which go through your mind when you have a security officer sifting through each and every tread of your trainer sole.

“Where have I been the last few weeks”, I was thinking.

I went to a Sex Pistols gig. Could I have trodden on something there?

What about that dodgy pub I went to in London a couple of weeks back?

And this is a country which seems to get off lightly, publicity wise, for its human rights breaches and its tough stance on drugs.

More than 90 per cent of the workforce in Dubai is made up of foreign nationals, mainly from South Asia, who earn as little as £2 for a 10-hour working day.

It has became common practice among employers to retain workers’ passports for the duration of their contracts to stop them changing jobs. As many of these workers have run up huge debts, this practice is tantamount to modern day servitude.

Dubai is also home to the camel jockey trade, which sees boys as young as four trafficked from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sudan to face a life of physical and sexual abuse.

But China, on the other hand, seems to be easy prey for the British media in the run up to the Olympics.

“This Olympic mascot is designed to spread message of prosperity – it’s made by people earning 30p an hour” screamed one tabloid this week.

And then there was the BBC’s coverage of the demonstrations in London during the torch relay.

A report by the BBC’s Beijing correspondent James Reynolds said: “The Chinese Communist Party has a simple rule.

“It will not show any pictures which ruin this country’s idea of a trouble free Games. China insists on keeping bad news away from its citizens.”

According to the National Union of Journalists’ magazine, BBC World News Editor Jon Williams has since admitted that the disruption was broadcast on Chinese Central Television.

Indeed, it was still being played on television, a month later when I visited China.

Of course, China needs to evolve in terms of its political values and its oppressive governance if it is to be truly considered a great power.

But when the Olympics starts tomorrow, I am going to enjoy the spectacle rather than being put off by any lazy stereotyping which seems to target some countries over others.