Ｏｎｅ　Ｗｏｒｌｄ　Ｏｎｅ　Ｄｒｅａｍ

Ｒｅｎｏ　Ｃａｌｌｅｊａ　（Ｍａｌｔａ）

This was the slogan chosen by China when it won its bid to hold the Olympic Games eight years ago. The Chinese prepared for these Olympics for seven whole years. If the opening was a spectacular event, emphasizing Chinas rich and ancient history, the closing ceremony was no less spectacular. With their ingeniousness and inventiveness, their fantastic use of manpower and technology, the Beijing Olympic Games were hailed as the best Olympics ever.

China also triumphed in most of the competitions and ended up winning the largest number of medals among all competing nations. China wanted to show the world that the enormous economic progress it is making is not accidental. Napoleon once said that China is a sleeping giant. He added, “When it wakes up the world will tremble.” And the World did tremble and marveled at the spectacle when China organized the Olympics. The success came at a cost though. China spent a large sum of money to make these games the most memorable ever. But as a friend of China for more than 30 years, I think that the tremendous success enjoyed by China and the enormous goodwill and admiration China attracted through the Olympics, must now be followed by deeds. China has already done wonders to help the earthquake victims of Sichuan. The serious and determined way it tackled the problems left after that terrible quake of May this year, showed that although the country was fully occupied with organizing the Olympics, when disaster struck the Chinese leaders were there for the people. Now that the Olympics have ended and the worlds eyes are perhaps not so much focused on China as during the Olympics, the Chinese government and its people must not abandon the people of Sichuan. All efforts must continue to house the 5 million homeless and to rebuild schools and lend a helping hand to the people of Sichuan. The Western media will attack China if the Chinese people will now fail in their social obligations. China must also address the gap that is widening between rich and poor. This gap is the seed for social discontent.

The Chinese leadership is aware of this and they are addressing the problem with a serious approach. One World One Dream was the logo for the Olympics. Let this logo guide China in the years to come.

The author is president of the Malta China Friendship Society.