( Source: http://www.globalpolitician.com/25118-china )

(The author John Press is an adjunct professor at New York University.)

Many Americans have trouble celebrating China's Olympics. They worry about China's influence, military, economy and human rights record. We should be concerned about our not effectively competing with China in the Olympics as well as economically. We should be as pro-Western and competitive in our dealings with them as they are pro-Chinese and competitive in their dealings with us. But we should not insist that China will turn into a liberal democracy. We need to recognize that so-called "human rights" are really a Western concept.

As the Olympics start those who believe in universal human rights will start protesting of China. They will basically be saying that the entire world must adopt Western standards of right and wrong. It seems to us that our ways are undeniably right for the whole world, but remember that China's GDP quadrupled between 1978 and 1992. It has since been growing faster. Think about that when we, with our huge trade deficits, tell China how to live. They may have reason to suspect that heavy rights for criminals, high school student empowerment and freedom of the media lead to victory.

We are a young nation. Asian - American students comprise 50 percent or more of the student body at numerous universities. Perhaps we have something to learn. If we continue to confuse liberty and licence, the right to be responsible in numerous ways with the right to party without consequence, we may not be around as long as China. Rather than telling other cultures that they must be like us, we can best secure liberty by telling our current population that they must be more like our forefathers. They always understood that liberty is not sustainable without responsibility. Before we tell other nations how to live, we should make sure of our own standing.

The Olympics should teach us something: it is a competitive world. Teams that do not accept discipline from their coaches are at a disadvantage. Teams that will allow you to play regardless of how many practices you miss will fail. Teams on which the members do not really care if they win or not will not prosper. Human rights activists are globalists and multiculturalists tell us that we have no core culture - both undermine our sense of team. We do not gain by decrying China for knowing it is a sovereign nation with a different culture. Culturists say we should enjoy the Olympics and learn from China. We should rally for our team, instead of decrying theirs.