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Mid

China warns IOC on political statements

April 10, 2008



China has warned the Olympics governing body to keep "irrelevant political factors" away from the Games, after its chief urged Beijing to honour pledges to improve human rights.

International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge said pro-Tibet protests dogging the torch relay had left the Games in crisis, and publicly reminded China of its promise to advance human rights.

Hours later, China said it had uncovered a criminal ring planning to kidnap athletes and others at the August Games.

And Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said no-one had the right to tell protesters demanding freedom for his homeland "to shut up" and said he felt demonised by the Chinese government.

Rogge said Chinese officials had promised, when they made their bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, that being awarded the Games would "advance the social agenda of China, including human rights".

"We definitely ask China to respect this moral engagement," he said.
The IOC has so far steered clear of joining in overseas pressure on China over its crackdown on Tibet and human rights concerns.

But Rogge, after witnessing violent scenes at torch relay legs in London and Paris and protests in San Francisco, appeared compelled to raise the issue as the IOC executive board met in Beijing Thursday.

The relay protests had thrown the Olympics into "crisis," he said, but he believed they would rebound in time for the Games in August.

Sports leaders should reassure athletes that Beijing was on track to stage a successful Olympics, he said.

"Tell them that whatever they have seen and heard, the Games will be very well-organised. Tell them that we will rebound from this current crisis."

The comments drew an immediate response from China, which urged the IOC to keep "irrelevant political factors" away from the Games.

"I believe IOC officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"I hope IOC officials continue to adhere to principles of the Olympic charter," he said, in responding to Rogge's earlier comments on human rights.

Speaking in Japan on his first foreign trip since unrest broke out in Tibet last month, Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, reiterated that he backed China's right to host the Olympic Games.

But he insisted that nobody had the right to tell protesters demanding freedom for Tibet "to shut up".

He also said he felt demonised by the Chinese government, which has accused him of fomenting the recent unrest in Tibet.

"I really feel very sad the government demonises me. I am just a human, I am not a demon," he told reporters.

On the issue of the ongoing protests, he called for non-violence but said: "The expression of their feelings is up to them".

"Nobody has the right to tell them to shut up. One of the problems in Tibet is that there is no freedom of speech.

"Autonomy (in Tibet) is just in name, it is not sincerely implemented. The crisis is the expression of their (Tibetans') deep regret."

The Olympic torch is now on its way to Buenos Aires in Argentina, after dramatic scenes in San Francisco, where organisers fearful of more violence rerouted the leg and halved its length, leaving supporters disappointed and confused.

Rogge said he was "saddened" by the violent protests in London and Paris, but believed the stop in San Francisco had been an improvement and that the relay would not be cut short.

"It was, however, not the joyous party that we had wished it to be," he said in Beijing, where he is attending a joint meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees and the IOC's executive board.

In a measure if the rising sensitivities, Rogge stressed athletes would not be allowed to engage in propaganda at the Beijing Games, but insisted they would have free speech.

"For us freedom of expression is something that is absolute, it is a human right, athletes have it," he said.

But he said athletes would have to comply with "small" restrictions contained in the Olympic Charter, the rule book of the Olympic Games, which bans religious, political or racial propaganda from Olympic venues.

World leaders have faced mounting calls from rights groups to boycott the opening ceremony in Beijing in protest against China's crackdown on Tibet, which it has ruled since 1950.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is among those heeding the boycott, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said he would also not be attending, although it stressed his plans had not changed.

"He's never been going to the Olympic opening ceremony. We have always said he's going to the closing ceremony," a spokeswoman for his office said.

The White House refused again to say whether President George W Bush would attend, saying it was "extremely premature" to say what his schedule would be for August.

Bush himself vowed in an interview to press China on human rights at the Beijing Olympics but chafed at calls for a boycott.

"Nobody needs to tell old George Bush that he needs to bring religious freedom to the doorstep of the Chinese, because I've done that now for - I'm on my eighth year doing it," he told EWTN television, a Catholic network.

"I've talked about freedom of religion every time I visited with them. I've talked about Darfur. I've talked about Burma. I've talked about the Dalai Lama. I don't need the Olympics to express my position."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has not said if he will attend, but used a speech in Beijing to deliver a blunt message that there are "significant" human rights issues in Tibet.

Despite the ongoing protests, Rogge again stressed there were no plans to cut short the Beijing torch relay.

"This scenario is definitely not on the agenda," he said.

smh.com.au

__________________
"Keeping quiet while monks and other peaceful protesters are murdered and jailed is not evidence of constructive engagement." - Arvind Ganesan, Human Rights Watch.

"I think...I think it's in my basement. Let me go upstairs and check" - M.C. Escher

blackgang

So what is that supposed to mean? Nothing really, jesus christ they riot, burn and plunder at the slightest reason.

zipcode

Or else, WHAT??????

Will they stop exporting cheap goods? Will they unleash cyber-attacks? Will they invade a neighboring country? WTF will you do China if the boycott increases?????

dear china, don't fecking 'warn' us! instead just say "we think irrelevant political factors should be kept away from the Games."


Get so tired of everyone backing down when China says "Boo". Time to show them we will no longer quiver whenever China farts. Especially before they get entrenched in Africa.

Bloody great opportunity to force China into making significant improvements. The 'failure' of the Olympics is exactly the kind of 'shame' that will cause leadership change.

bkkandrew

The Olympic Games are descending into the sort of farce that caused their cessation in ancient times...

John L

I haven't watch the olympic games for over twenty years. Have I really missed anything?

Texpat

Your post suggests the sport is subordinate to the stage. That's really sad.

What ever happened to sport for sport's sake? What about the competition to see who's the fastest, highest, farthest?

Seems now every tosspot with a microphone is an activist of some sort. Since the Internet was born, everyone's got to gripe about something -- in public. I envision a day where concerts and horse races and karaoke venues and birthday parties will be breeding grounds for the oppressed and pissed-off.

Having said that, China isn't used to criticism. While it's a huge, powerful country, socially, it's a still a bit backwater.

zipcode

I've posted in another thread that my preference would be to eliminate all identification of athletes' country; that would make the Games about the best athletes and not about country medal count tallies.

But...this thread, and my reaction, was about China WARNING the rest of the world.

Frankly, I am not a 'China fan'; spent enough time conducting business, tradeshows, training courses, ... during the 90s. And the one unshakeable conclusion I have formed is that the only way to get a govt. official to change his/her position is to tell them, face-to-face, "NO". The political apparatus relies on millenia-old centrally-dominated authority; and no underling is prepared for the eventuality that someone outside the system has refused, and how to convey that refusal upwards.

China can and will 'deal with' any and all internal demonstrations and protests. It is absolutely powerless, and neurotically afraid, of external critcism, and worse, of being ignored.

It is not that I am questioning/advocating the use of politics to change some 'bad ways' of a host country. It is certain that many others will use the London Games for their own agenda. My main concern is that the 'China Games' are an unique....absolutely unique....opportunity to tell China that the rest of the civilized world does not give a flying feck when China wants to warn us, and that the rest of the civilized world is willing to ask China, So what the feck are you going to do if many of us boycott the Games.

Anything less than this will cause tremendously stricter suppression of Tibetan (and other) civil rights within China.


On a tangent:
What is the cost for a country to boycott these Games?
1. The athletes are disappointed;
2. television and advertising revenues suffer;
3. related merchandising sales drop;
4. national pride in it's athletes is lower.

My simple-minded repsonse would be:
1. So sorry Athletes! Shit happens...Why not compete at the PanAm or other games instead. OR...you are welcome to attend as long as your country affiliation is not announced.
2. Lion's share of Television and broadcast revenues go to the IOC and 'official' broadcasting conglomerates. News Corp., a couple of European media giants, and the US networks lose out on a big chunk of cash. Sorry, no tears from zipcode.
3. Most of the crap sold as Olympic merchandise is made in China, and it is crap, and let's use the money saved to feed a poor family for a day or two instead.
4. Frankly, I would be more proud of my nation, or any nation, that had the moral strength (and the geopolitical savvy) to say "No thanks, China, we do not plan to attend."

Finally, if enough of the 'major' nations did boycott, it would create so much more Olympic warmth and joy and fond memories....just imagine the Summer equivalent of the Jamaican bobsled team!

[And the Silver Medal for Long Distance Running goes to Annu Bikaran of Nauru! Which is extra-ordinary folks since the entire circumference of Nauru is less than half the distance of the event!!!]

Mid

IOC head calls for end of China hectoring
Published: April 26, 2008 at 1:41 PM

BEIJING, April 26 (UPI) -- China should no longer be barraged with international criticism for its alleged human rights violations, the head of the International Olympic Committee says.

IOC President Jacques Rogge said the international community should cease all criticism of China, despite recent movement on the country's part regarding talks with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, the Financial Times reported Saturday.

"You don't obtain anything in China with a loud voice," Rogge said of such efforts.

"It took us 200 years to evolve from the French Revolution. China started in 1949," he added.

China officially announced Friday it would hold talks with the Dalai Lama as part of an escalating crisis regarding alleged human rights violations in Tibet.

China had accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating a number of violent protests in Tibet, events which have led to a number of protests against the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

Rogge told the Times the Beijing Games should be good for the country's social development.

"The games we believe, over time, will have a good influence on social evolution in China, and the Chinese admit it themselves," the IOC official said.

upi.com

chinthee

I don't think there's any going back to the way things were.

The Olympics is a political event. The only way to avoid the controversy is to allow the Olympics only in politically inert places like Denmark.

Hey, wait, isn't Denmark in the center of the Islamic controversy?

Never mind.

Mid

just a small ABOUT TURN from this .....................

cite OP (China warns IOC on political statements)

bkkandrew

^Some slitty-eyed looking fellow must have told him to be careful what he ate in the summer...