For one of the world’s fastest growing economies with ambitions of becoming a political and military superpower, the 2008 Summer Olympic Games are supposed to be the perfect opportunity to showcase the progress and might of the Middle Kingdom.

And the countdown is visible elsewhere too.

“Beijing 2008, One World, One Dream, We Are Ready”, say a sprinkling of banners around the city and promos on TV. Games sponsors are pushing their own commercials while some local channels regularly telecast reruns of events from the Athens Games. In a month or two, the new stadiums are due for completion and the old ones, along with prominent facilities like the railway station, are being renovated.

But four months before the event, a motley bunch of Tibetans, human rights campaigners and a handful of global politicians are trying to blow out the candles even before the party can begin, using the games to pressure China politically in the aftermath of the violent protests in Tibet last month.

As a result, the state-controlled information machinery has gone into an overdrive to sustain domestic perceptions and counter criticism, with an obvious one-sided coverage of the torch’s troubles and a fierce show of support for the games. And it seems to be working.

Xiao Fang, a French-speaking tourist guide at the Great Wall of China, echoes a national line when she says the Olympics are all about sport and have nothing to do with politics.

“I don’t understand why some countries don’t want the Olympics happening in Beijing,” she said. “It is probably because they don’t know China. China is a good country, we have many beautiful cities, mountains and rivers. We are developing very fast, we have everything that Europe has. Don’t you think Chinese people are very kind?”

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