WHILE a vote for Beijing as host for the 2000 Olympics would have brought a sense of pride to China and all Chinese, including citizens round the world of Chinese descent, the final choice of Sydney, Australia would seem (especially after the fact) the more rational one, under the circumstances. China tried, as other nations did, but China did not succeed in this round, the first time in fact it has applied for such a prestigious gathering. In the context of the sports world, nothing has changed for the Chinese athletes. They will compete in all future events wherever they are held, perhaps even a little harder to prove their worth regardless of the venue. In pure athleticism, the ''home court'' has little, if any bearing, on the success or failure of a team or individual. There are too many spectators out there, of all stripes, and the crowd's roar is for the performance, not the nationality of the performer. Now is the time for men and women of good will to remain sober on this issue. Certainly China overbuilt its own expectations and literally begged for a letdown in view of the high hopes it held - unrealistically, as it turned out. But to speak of a ''loss of face'' as the International Herald Tribune (September 25-26) would interpret it, is to grossly underestimate the resilience and the staying power of the Chinese in all matters, including - especially - those that have to do with their international standing. The Western press also played up the reprint of a hardline address by Mr Deng Xiaoping about the Hong Kong turnover (delivered 11 years ago!) in the People's Daily the morning after the vote in Monaco. If the Chinese authorities did indeed need this kindof assertion for boosting their own morale, then it would be a sign of weakness rather than self-confidence. The Chinese people and the Chinese powers-that-be must recognise that the world does not revolve around China. Shouting slogans such as ''A More Open China Welcomes the 2000 Olympics'' falls on deaf ears if the country still cracks down harshly on its dissidents. The question is not that the crackdowns have proved necessary to maintain law and order, but why dissidence on a large scale took root in the first place. Chinese leaders, take heed from the Monaco vote: many people would favour Beijing as an Olympics venue, but many others - politically motivated or not - disagreed. You, the Chinese leaders, gave them a ready excuse: the students who rebelled in the spring of '89 were legitimately concerned about runaway inflation, corruption and the lack of individual freedom. You used force to silence them. You may have instituted reforms since then to remedy those ills, but it will take a while longer for the wound to heal. The country now seems to be on the right course but much remains to be done. Not being able to host the Olympics in the Year 2000 - as bitter a disappointment as it may be - is insignificant in terms of what China really needs to accomplish: the continued well-being of its people, political stability, steady economic growth without major boom-and-bust ripples, and an administrative system that does not lend itself to graft and corruption. When all those things are in place, China will not have to bid too hard for the Olympics, because its athletes have proved themselves. The Olympics will come knocking on China's door. YVES LIEOU Discovery Bay