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IN violently suppressing political dissent in Tibet this month, China has cracked the door to something it probably fears more than street demonstrations in a remote, mountainous land known as the "roof of the world.”

News of China's crackdown has some in the international community whispering about a protest of some sort at the Summer Olympics. China lobbied long and hard to secure the games, and anything affecting their smooth production would be a black eye.

An actual boycott of the games is a remote possibility — President Bush said last week the Olympics should be about athletes, not politics — but some have suggested world leaders might show their unhappiness over Tibet by staying away from the games' opening ceremonies.

Certainly, nationalists in Tibet know China has much riding on successfully staging the Olympics, hence the decision to launch protests against decades of Chinese rule. China considers Tibet a part of its territory in the same way it views Taiwan as a rebellious Chinese province.

On March 10, monks from a nearby monastery defied Chinese officials and marched into Tibet's capital, Lhasa, to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed rebellion against communist rule. Chinese police used deadly force to quell the demonstration and others that followed.

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, says he's willing to go to Beijing to meet with Chinese leaders. But it's hard to imagine Chinese President Hu Jintao, who once served as Tibet's local communist leader, would provide the stage for what would be a propaganda windfall for Tibet separatism.

Yet China should talk. Imperialism and imperiousness are incompatible with China's growing free-market economy and emerging freedoms. The specter of Chinese police shooting down Tibetan monks in the streets of Lhasa would foil attempts to showcase China's advances when the world's athletes come calling in August.