Chinese international students in Korea beating Koreans during the Olympic torch relay there, the reason it appears was because they showed support for the Snow Lion Flag, and tore up a Chinese flag. Chinese students put pictures from the scene online that same day, and those involved were quickly arrested by Korean police. At present, some of the Chinese international students in Korea have sent out an SOS signal, asking for help. Because of this incident, they have been interrogated by police and threatened by Korean nationalist zealots. And also because of this incident, the Korean government has stated it will be making visa policies more stringent, which jeopardizes the interests of all Chinese and international students in Korea.

Last night, one buddy asked me on MSN, is there any chance the government will step in to get that one kid out from prison? I said, look what Clinton did in 1993 when 15 year-old American student Michael Fay was sentenced to six lashes with a cane and four months in prison for stealing road signs and spray-painting graffiti on over twenty cars. This incident created a huge uproar in the US, and Clinton himself requested this youth be pardoned. In the end the caning was carried out, but reduced to four lashes.

Singapore is a sovereign country, so both nationals or visitors must obey its laws when on Singaporean soil. America is the number one strongest nation in the world, but it has no right to alter Singapore's laws. Singapore can give some face, ie. two less lashes, but the caning must still take place, otherwise Singapore would just be another American state. Korea is also a sovereign country, and it has laws. For Chinese students living there to go and attack people, attacking citizens of that country and during a peaceful activity at that, well then they must go be imprisoned, and accept the consequences of their own actions. For Chinese people, this kind of thing is hard to accept. It's as though you didn't raise your own kid well, so they go out and get taught a lesson by strangers. Although, there's nothing that can be done about this.

Because this was in Korea, this is a bit of a unique problem. Korean nationalism is well-known throughout Asia and even the world, and then you have China, its stronger neighbor. Now that something like this has happened, it's hard to predict which way things will go. In Korea, in Japan, countless numbers of Chinese flags suddenly appeared, turning the Olympic torch relation into a platform for the Chinese people to display the strength of their nation, so of course the hosts would be a bit edgy. The Olympics are an occasion that belong to the world, but after the torch passed through London and Paris, every place it has touched down in thereafter has become a sea of red flags. “Defending” the torch like this makes the Olympics effectively belong to China, and don't you think that violates the goal of the Olympics just a little?

Under the current situation, with the incident having escalated into violent clashes, the guests attacking the hosts, how did you think the Koreans will react? For those students who attacked people, I think they deserve whatever punishment they get, just as long as they're guaranteed a proper defense. However, as for the possibility that pressure might be targeted at Chinese people and Chinese students, the government needs to be prepared to ensure that their property and personal safety in Korea not be infringed, that their legal rights not be threatened. I have faith that the Korean government knows this much, because just as there are Chinese in Korea, there are still plenty of Koreans in Qingdao, Beijing and Shanghai.

With all the praise for the “Red Knight's” violent behavior in London, could people be taking this a little too far? Fists as means of communication, does that really work in every situation? Amidst all this noise, people who used to have something to say have now changed tune and are just going with it, and not issuing warnings or criticism. I don't think this is normal. The end result will be that everyone ends up paying the price. Big and strong can be expressed in a number of different ways, but pissing everybody the hell off to the extent of agitating our neighboring countries, I'm afraid isn't such a good thing.

Just let this thing cool down. Setting it off again won't do anybody any good.

It's always when we're off to a good start that we go and do stuff that ends really badly. Actually, if you look at how the torch relay went down in Hong Kong, we might notice that people on the mainland still have a long ways to go when it comes to being rational.

I saw this editorial in Chosun, aimed at our Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson's response. Sounds like they're a little sour, it pretty much said ‘if Chinese international students have gone attacking people in America or France, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would definitely not have this kind of response,’ at the same time it said there needs to be some reflection, ‘just what exactly is it that we did to make China treat us like this…’

Hah, overall I just strange; it's not so much their nationalist sentiment as it is like the concubine, having just been beaten, saying ‘if I was the main wife, things wouldn't be like this, etc.,’ and then wondering, ‘is it because my husband thinks I did something wrong…?’

I think the Red Knight's bravery backs up Westerners’ view that “Hans oppress Tibetans.”

Why suddenly was there violence in Korea, but none seen earlier in America or Japan? Doesn't that imply that they've been influenced by the locals there?

I'm not an extreme person, but I still have to say, when it comes down to it, it's still that China isn't strong enough yet. American soldiers in Korea have committed more than a few crimes there, and did the Korean government holler so much then? The way Koreans respond to a Chinese having kicked a Korean, and how they respond to Americans raping Korean women, just doesn't seem balanced.

I welcome criticisms and critiques.

“In Korea, in Japan, countless numbers of Chinese flags suddenly appeared, turning the Olympic torch relation into a platform for the Chinese people to display the strength of their nation…every place it has touched down in thereafter has become a sea of red flags…makes the Olympics effectively belong to China, and don't you think that violates the goal of the Olympics just a little?”
The blogger is spot-on. Just think if Japan was hosting the Olympics, and Japanese flags started popping up all over China, without doubt some of us would start rioting.

The most the Chinese government can do is help him pay for a lawyer, right?

“I'm not an extreme person, but I still have to say, when it comes down to it, it's still that China isn't strong enough yet. American soldiers in Korea have committed more than a few crimes there, and did the Korean government holler so much then? The way Koreans respond to a Chinese having kicked a Korean, and how they respond to Americans raping Korean women, just doesn't seem balanced.”
I agree with #9

Spectators’ silence is only just a step away from apathy.
I can totally forgive those who hit people for their emotions at the time.

Just think, if a gook came up to you on the street and pointed at you and said ‘your mother lacks virtue,’ how would you respond?

a) Roll up your sleeves and whack the person;
b) Keep smiling and sit down the gook, explain the facts, apply reasoning, and prove that your mother for the most part still maintains virtue?

A normal man would choose A

Similarly, if you see your country as their mother, and someone grabs your national flag and rips it up right in your face

How would you respond?

……..

If you had the ability to station troops in Korea, and one of your troops committed a crime, you too would hear the case in your own military court, and not the local criminal or civil court.

Furthermore, don't go making such simple analogies. Say it's 2012 and Japan's hosting the Olympics. The torch is passing through China, and the streets are completely filled with Japanese people crazily waving the red sun flag. You go and raise a flag demanding independence for Okinawa and Nawa, and get a beating from Japanese international students, what would you do then?

I'm not here to argue, so don't get angry. But I feel your analogy if far simpler than mine.

I'm not saying there was anything inappropriate in the way the Koreans handled the Chinese students. I just want to say that since the Koreans feel that Chinese people have treated Koreans differently from how they treated the British and the Americans, it's because they don't see themselves as being on equal footing with Britain or America.

I don't condone the violence either. The “Red Knight” you mention, when he was beating the Free Tibetter in the fountain there, I was standing right beside it. There were Chinese people all around me cheering him on, but I didn't, and to be more precise I was quite ashamed. But I can understand their behavior, with the tens of thousands of people gathered there, it's quite easy for emotions to go overboard, not to mention that the other side's behavior wasn't civilized in the least. I think it's normal for there to be differing means of expression, some people just have hot tempers, and others aren't easily agitated. That's why I'm unable to say that they were wrong, but I would like to tell them from now on to not be so hot-headed

I welcome criticisms and critiques.

“Just think, if a gook came up to you on the street and pointed at you and said ‘your mother lacks virtue,’ how would you respond?

a) Roll up your sleeves and whack the person;
b) Keep smiling and sit down the gook, explain the facts, apply reasoning, and prove that your mother for the most part still maintains virtue?

A normal man would choose A”
#15's metaphor, that's some dark humor.

When I see a Free Tibetter standing above righteously yellying “China lie, people die”, I think that all Chinese people there will be holding back a whole stomachful of fire. The “Red Knight's” mistake is that he's not a high-ranking official, but he still dares show such temper.

Honestly, there's nothing wrong here at all, he absolutely deserved to be arrested.

Where the problem lies, is that when Chinese people break the law overseas, they get arrested, and that's fine. But when laowais in China break the law, no matter how small or severe it is, it always gets handled discreetly, or not at all, and then the news gets cut or whatever. And why is that? Is a country like this really worth loving?

Did anybody see the Olympic flag in these Olympic torch runs? Is this a torch run about the Olympic Games or about China being the biggest and meanest?