The US State Department came out with this dandy little notice for US travelers to the Beijing Olympics – be aware that you will be monitored, your room may be entered, and really without saying it that you are about to visit a totalitarian regime that will pretty much do whatever it wants.

I saw a couple of news articles around this and a post by Jeff Nolan on it, so thought I would join the fray.

I am as big of a China fan as the next free market capitalist and admittedly have yet to visit.  They love our treasuries, we love their stuff, and the middle class boom that giant nation is experiencing is good in many ways.  Although there are some concerns around currency manipulation, environmental damage, and general human rights abuses, China is a what we want it to be – more trading partner than competitive nation state.  We’ll see how that works out for all of us going forward.

The eyes of the world will be on China for the 2008 Summer Olympics and we need to be prepared for what we will see.

Drudge highlighted this story about the US State Department’s warning:

"All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to on-site or remote technical monitoring at all times. Hotel rooms, residences and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupant’s consent or knowledge"

Welcome to China and show off that Olympic spirit while you’re here – we’ll be watching…

This plus blocking live video feeds from Tiananmen Square as well as that little brouhaha in Tibet are the types of things that will get increasing attention as China receives the international focus it wanted by hosting the Olympics.

It will be interesting to see the evolution of a nation steeped in profound history trying to control its re-emergence on the global scene.  Our 250-ish years as a country and awkward role in the world as a lone superpower make us a mere pup compared to the thousands of years of Chinese history and more than one go at being the powerful nation on the block.

It will certainly be interesting to watch.