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### Viewing cable 08BEIJING3385, PARTY ENJOYS BOOST THANKS TO OLYMPICS, BUT SOME

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
08BEIJING3385 | 2008-09-02 10:10 | 2010-12-28 21:09 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Beijing

`

    VZCZCXRO3005
    OO RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
    DE RUEHBJ #3385/01 2461030
    ZNY CCCCC ZZH
    O 021030Z SEP 08
    FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9664
    INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
    RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
    RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

` `

    C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIJING 003385

    SIPDIS

    E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/02/2033
    TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KOLY CH
    SUBJECT: PARTY ENJOYS BOOST THANKS TO OLYMPICS, BUT SOME
    ANGER OVER COSTS

    Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey Carlson
    for reasons 1.4 (B/D).

    Summary
    -------

    ¶1. (C) China's top leadership and a sizeable majority
    of the Chinese public view the recent Beijing-hosted
    Olympic Games as a great success, according to Embassy
    contacts. Most academics and journalists we spoke
    with in the week following the August 24 closing
    ceremony told us the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is
    enjoying an increase in legitimacy as a result.
    However, several of the contacts warned that these
    gains are tempered by widespread resentment of the
    "excessive" costs of hosting the Games. Some
    interlocutors believe Politburo Standing Committee
    members Xi Jinping, who was in charge of overall
    Olympic preparations, and Zhou Yongkang, responsible
    for internal security, have benefited politically from
    pulling off an Olympics free of serious disruption.
    Others feel President Hu Jintao is the biggest winner
    from the Games. End summary.

    Boost to Party Legitimacy...
    ----------------------------

    ¶2. (C) The central leadership views the recent
    Beijing-hosted Olympics as a great success that has
    given the regime a boost in legitimacy, according to
    numerous contacts we spoke with in the days following
    the August 24 closing ceremony. Dong Lisheng
    (protect), a political scientist at the Chinese
    Academy of Social Sciences, told PolOff the Games "far
    exceeded" the expectations of top-level Party leaders,
    who welcomed the public's nationalistic response as a
    boost for Party legitimacy. Freelance journalist Chen
    Jieren (protect), who is the nephew of Politburo
    Standing Committee member He Guoqiang, said "70
    percent" of the public supported the Games. For most
    Chinese, Chen said, the Olympics were about "standing
    up" and winning the world's respect and were thus
    successful. Chen Hao (protect), Executive Editor-in-
    Chief of the International Herald Leader, a newspaper
    run by the Xinhua News Agency, said the Olympics
    represent a clear "political achievement" (zheng ji)
    for the Party that will make it easier for the central
    leadership to implement its policies in the coming
    months. Professor Su Hao (protect), of China Foreign
    Affairs University (CFAU), offered a similar
    assessment, saying that the success of the Games
    resulted in a "large boost in legitimacy" for the
    government and a surge of national pride.

    ...but Resentment over Costs
    ----------------------------

    ¶3. (C) While contacts generally agreed the Olympics
    will boost public support for the Communist Party,
    many of our interlocutors cautioned that any
    legitimacy gains are diluted by wide-spread criticism
    over the excessive expense of hosting (which was
    announced as over USD 40 billion, including
    infrastructure investment). Wu Yin (protect), Vice
    President of the public opinion polling firm Horizon,
    told PolOff August 28 that many Beijingers believe
    hosting the Olympics has accelerated the rise in fuel
    and food prices. Strict security, Wu continued,
    dampened public enthusiasm during the Games and there
    is lingering disappointment that the much-anticipated
    economic benefits to Beijing's service industry failed
    to materialize. In the end, Wu argued, gains in
    public support for the Party will be minimal, at best.
    Guan Renfeng (protect), a graduate student at Xinjiang
    University who visited Beijing during the final
    weekend of the Games, told PolOff August 25 that he is
    proud of his country's Olympics effort but he gives
    the government an "A minus" rather than an A "because
    they spent too much money." Guangming Ribao editor
    Dong Yuyu (protect) commented that while the majority
    of Chinese "reflexively" support the Olympics and feel
    proud, the public feels uneasy about excessive
    government spending. Dong said many Chinese, had they
    been given a choice, would have supported spending
    these resources on education and health care rather
    than hosting the Olympics. Niu Xinchun (protect), a
    scholar at the Ministry of State Security-affiliated
    Chinese Institutes of Contemporary International
    Relations (CICIR), told PolOff August 25 that a
    "significant portion" of the Chinese public resents

    BEIJING 00003385 002 OF 002

    the enormous costs of hosting the Games. CFAU's Su,
    however, felt such concerns over spending are
    overblown, noting that the cost of the Olympics was
    just a small percentage of China's total GDP.

    Central Dissatisfaction with BOCOG
    -----------------------------------

    ¶4. (C) Ding Kuisong (protect), Vice Chairman of the
    CCP Party School-affiliated think tank China Reform
    Forum, said Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) Member
    and Vice President Xi Jinping was placed in charge of
    the overall Olympics effort due, in part, to high-
    level dissatisfaction with missteps by the Beijing
    Organizing Committee for the Games of the 29th
    Olympiad (BOCOG). BOCOG's alleged mistakes included
    agreeing "without sufficient coordination" to global
    torch relay routes that were "inappropriate." Ding
    said Xi, and even CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao,
    personally made many Olympics-related decisions,
    including logistical arrangements for President Bush's
    attendance at the opening ceremony. Dissident scholar
    Liu Junning (protect), told PolOff September 2 that
    he, too, had heard of tension between BOCOG and the
    central leadership over the torch relay fiasco, but
    Liu said it was always the plan to have the Central
    Government take the lead role in the final weeks.

    Olympic Victory for Xi Jinping, Zhou Yongkang
    ---------------------------------------------

    ¶5. (C) Chen Jieren told PolOff that both Xi Jinping
    and fellow PBSC member Zhou Yongkang, who is in charge
    of China's security apparatus, benefited politically
    from the Games. Overseeing the Olympics was the first
    major assignment for Xi since being promoted to the
    PBSC in October 2007. While Chen said that some of
    Xi's rivals at the top may have secretly hoped that Xi
    would stumble, the success of the Games has, in fact,
    burnished Xi's image. Zhou Yongkang, meanwhile, is
    now "exceptionally powerful," Chen said. Zhou had
    already received a great deal of praise following the
    Sichuan earthquake due to the quick response of
    security forces, Chen explained, and the lack of a
    major security incident at the Olympics further
    strengthened Zhou's standing. Dong Lisheng, of CASS,
    largely echoed Chen's comments, saying Xi passed his
    first major test as a top-level leader.

    Hu Jintao and Collective Leadership the Real Winners
    --------------------------------------------- -------

    ¶6. (C) Guangming Ribao editor Dong Yuyu concurred that
    Zhou is very powerful and his stock is rising because
    of his performance over the last year and during the
    Olympics. However, Dong did not agree that Xi
    Jinping's political stature had risen as a result of
    his Olympics assignment. According to Dong, the
    Party's Central Secretariat assumed overall management
    of the Games and it was "natural" for Xi, as head of
    the Secretariat, to take the leading role. Moreover,
    Xi still coordinated all Olympic decisions with the
    rest of the Politburo Standing Committee. If
    anything, Dong argued, the Olympics was a "collective"
    triumph for the entire Party leadership, not just Xi.
    Liu Junning agreed, saying Hu Jintao, not Xi Jinping,
    is the main beneficiary of the Olympics given Hu's
    prominence during the Games. (Note: In addition to
    hosting world leaders and presiding over the opening
    ceremony, Hu made high-profile appearances at several
    events.) "It was clear to everyone that Hu Jintao was
    the real host of the Olympics," Liu said.
    RANDT

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