Why should US baseball players be forced to play in China?

(Washington Post): "Every year in mainland China, countless websites are closed, blogs deleted, sensitive words filtered.

• Many websites hosted abroad are blocked.

• Overseas radio and television programs are interfered with or strictly prohibited.

• Although the Chinese government has promised media freedom for foreign journalists for 22 months, before, during, and after the Beijing Olympics,

• and ending on October 17, 2008,

an FCCC [Foreign Correspondents Club in China] survey showed that 40 percent of foreign correspondents have experienced harassment, detention or an official warning during news gathering in Beijing and other areas. Some reporters have complained about repeated violent police interference at the time they were speaking with interviewees. Most seriously, Chinese interviewees usually become vulnerable as a result.

• In June 2006, Fu Xiancai was beaten and paralyzed after being interviewed by German media. In March 2007, Zheng Dajing was beaten and arrested after being interviewed by a British TV station....

Huge investment in Olympic projects and a total lack of transparency have facilitated serious corruption and widespread bribery.

• Taxpayers are not allowed to supervise the use of investment amounting to more than $40 billion. Liu Zhihua, formerly

• in charge of Olympic construction and former deputy mayor of Beijing,

• was arrested for massive embezzlement.

To clear space for Olympic-related construction, thousands of civilian houses have been destroyed without their former owners being properly compensated. Brothers Ye Guozhu and Ye Guoqiang were imprisoned for a legal appeal after their house was forcibly demolished. Ye Guozhu has been repeatedly handcuffed and shackled,

• tied to a bed and beaten with electric batons. During the countdown to the Olympic Games he will continue to suffer from torture in Chaobei Prison in Tianjin.

It has been reported that over 1.25 million people have been forced to move because of Olympic construction; it was estimated that the figure would reach 1.5 million by the end of 2007.

• No formal resettlement scheme is in place for the over 400,000 migrants who have had their dwelling places demolished.

Twenty percent of the demolished households are expected to experience poverty or extreme poverty. In Qingdao, the Olympic sailing city, hundreds of households have been demolished and many human rights activists as well as "civilians" have been imprisoned. Similar stories come from other Olympic cities such as Shenyang, Shanghai and Qinhuangdao."

• From Washington Post, "The Real China and the Olympics," by Hu Jia and Teng Biao, 4/5/08

(Baseball players could simply include language in their contracts stating they will not play outside the continental United States. For any reason. (sm))

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