Well it’s finally Olympics eve.

So much is riding on this moment, isn’t it?

Like, umm.

Well, there’s the uhh.

Uhhh, you know, the whatchamacallit.

When it comes down to it, I can’t think of a single reason why this Olympics matters so much.

Maybe this is supposed to be when China showcases itself to the world and comes out as a global player, but it’s not. Unless you’ve been living in a bunker without a newspaper from the last 30 years, you know China has been up-and-coming, but has plenty of controversial issues that remain. The Olympics won’t change that, just like it didn’t change the reputations of the cities in which they were previously held.

Let’s play a little game, called name those Olympics.

Where did the last three Olympics Games occur?

If you guessed, Turin, Italy; Athens, Greece; and Salt Lake City, United States, you’re right.

But I had to look those up to double-check, and surely, many readers will have had to do the same. Why?

Let’s face it, when was the last time you saw a newspaper dateline with “TURIN, Italy”?

Probably during the 2006 winter Olympics, right?

Did the Olympic Games do anything remarkable for Athens? Other than returning the games to its rightful originators, not really. The unemployment rate went down. Tourism grew. Those are nice things, but barely footnotes in history.

And is Salt Lake City now known better for its recent Olympics spirit than for polygamy?

Sorry to say that the Mormon church, which officially abandoned polygamy in 1890, continues to give Salt Lake City – where it’s based – a reputation for the place where those weird Mormons hang out.

Despite the hype, this Olympics likely will come and go without nearly the importance attached to it.

What does that mean for business here in China?

It means nothing at all.

The same old vexing China issues will remain. It still will be difficult to hire and retain good staff in China come September. Plenty of copycats are waiting for the right moment to knockoff your product. And joint ventures still suck for a lot of reasons.

If to avoid breathing in Beijing’s notorious fumes, U.S. President George W. Bush wears a surgical mask throughout the Games, that could lead to a typical W-scale screw-up in international relations here.

But that – along with so many other potential culture clashes here between East and West – won’t be enough to derail China’s global coming out unrelated to the Olympics, which is necessary to continue increasing what it cares most about: more money, power and status. Oh, and maintaining domestic and world harmony.

To get what it wants, China will continue to deal with Western companies on its home turf, and go global. While a major Beijing Olympics loss of face at the hands of the West could make things tenser for foreign business in China, economic opening will continue based on practicality.

On the business-to-business level, practicality deepens.

A young Chinese computer technician just visited my office.

Happy Olympics, I said.

He grumbled.

What, you don’t like the Olympics?

No, he said.

Why? I asked.

His client companies are all on virtual holidays, letting employees off to watch the Games. Business is down. The work day is lethargic.

The Games are good for China, he mumbled. But a bore for business, and that sucks.

For my computer guy, the Games make business slightly worse. For others, business might be slightly better, or even a lot better. Or a lot worse.

But even with “Tighter Visa Restrictions,” “Looser Press Freedom,” or a million other China-related Olympics headlines, there’s just no fundamental way these Games will change the way businesspeople view doing business - whether they are Western or Chinese.

China is where the world must do business now. The world is where Chinese must do business.

The Olympics has no bearing on that.

    Channel: Vital News     |