Timing of Tibet Protest

In a recent New York Times article, Tibetan monks stage a large protest while Western journalist toured the Chinese autonomous state. From a strategic position, the monks staged this rally just at the right moment. Chinese officials took the journalist there in hopes of showing the violence against Tibetan people was only because of the violence brought against the people of the Han ethnicity. Once the protest broke out, Chinese national police forced the journalist away from the scene and forced them to turn off cameras. In an effort to expose the West to a favorable Chinese position in Tibet. However, because of the strategic timing by these monks, Western journalist were censored by the Chinese government.

Will the censorship in Tibet effect international participation in the upcoming Olympics? The United States is pressuring China to engage the Dali Lama in discussion of peace. President Hu is open to discussion as long as the Dali does not want to discuss Tibetan freedom. Will the Beijing Olympics be a national embarassment for China? I am waiting to see how this turns out, but one thing is for sure, Western media does not favor well to censorship. China's may have a pie in the face even before the torch hits Beijing.