An interesting article from Charles Hutzler of the Associated Press. Hutzler writes that China is stepping up monitoring of activists and NGOs that it thinks may try to disrupt the Olympics or use the games to advance their own agendas. According to the article, the current efforts are significantly more extensive than anything done previously. However the article also points out the PR risks inherent in such a defensive approach:

While foreign governments often monitor potentially disruptive groups ahead of big events, Beijing this time is ranging farther afield, targeting groups whose activities would be considered legal in most countries.

As such, the move carries risks for Beijing. Evidence that the communist government is withholding visas or engaged in heavy-handed policing to suppress protests would likely draw negative press and could unnerve the International Olympic Committee and corporate sponsors.

Scott Kronick, the president of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide's China operations, said he raised concerns about the way protests might be handled when an official with the Beijing Olympic organizing committee asked him about the possibility of activists disrupting the torch relay.

"I said, 'People will understand that. That's the way different groups act. What you need to worry about is what your response is going to be and how you will act,'" said Kronick, whose clients include Adidas, an Olympic sponsor.

Kronick puts his finger on something that I think most PR people instinctively understand about China's Olympic situation: It's not the protests or activists that will create an Olympic crisis for China. It is a bungled response to such protests that would do it. People expect protests, and they're not going to be shocked to see them. What will shock them is a poorly thought-out or brutal overreaction to such protests. In the era of the camera-phone, there will be no way to keep such things out of the public eye.

The other thing is that taking too heavy-handed an approach prior to the Olympics will charge the atmosphere and up the risks. It doesn't help that there are already grumblings from the foreign media community that BOCOG's communication is, um, less than stellar, exhibiting many of the unloved hallmarks of Chinese bureaucratic communication. I hasten to add that I have no doubt that this is despite the best efforts of their PR firm.

Imagethief remains an Olympic optimist, and has even put his order in for tickets, potential protests not withstanding. I bid for medal rounds in sexy events, so I probably won't get any. But I figure if I make the effort to go, I want to see something good. By which I mean a sporting event, not a protest.

Previously:

Did the "Genocide Olympics" influence China? (May, 2007)