Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Alexander Zhukov (L)assured the Chinese that Russia would not boycott the Beijing Olympics
Photo: Valery Levitin
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Aside Jumping
// Calling on to boycott the Beijing Olympics
The House of Representatives adopted a resolution calling for China to stop the repressions in Tibet. At the same time Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton urged President Bush to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. The stance towards the Olympics has become a bone of contention in many parts of the world. Governments prefer to shun possible rows with China, whereas opposition leaders and human rights activists demand radical measures.
The resolution passed practically unanimously (413 votes for, and 1 against) by the House of Representatives was set in quite a strict tone. The Government of the People’s Republic of China “must end its crackdown on nonviolent Tibetan protestors” and “begin a results-based dialogue, without preconditions, directly with His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” the document reads. Calling on the US Department of State to reconsider its decision not to include the People’s Republic of China among the group of countries described as the world’s most systematic human rights violators, Congressmen insisted on seeking “to establish an office in Lhasa, Tibet to monitor political, economic and cultural developments in Tibet.”
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi made no secret of the fact that the resolution she forged was adopted in the light of the forthcoming Olympics. “Most insulting of all is that China insists that the torch go through Tibet. The world should not allow that to happen,” she said.
The top presidential contenders, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, appealed to the Bush administration to even more pressurize Beijing. “If the Chinese do not take steps to help stop the genocide in Darfur and to respect the dignity, security and human rights of the Tibetan people, then the president should boycott the opening ceremonies,” reads the statement of Obama published on Wednesday night as protests against the Olympic torch relay broke out in San-Francisco.
Hillary Clinton made two statements regarding the Olympics. The first one urging that President Bush not go to Beijing was issued on Monday. Senator Clinton opines that “the violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur” prove that China has no right to host the Olympics. On Wednesday Clinton once more mentioned the boycott of the Beijing Olympics when commenting on the news that Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown would not go to the opening ceremonies. “That was an important decision by Prime Minister Brown and I am calling on Senators McCain and Obama to join me in my request that President Bush also not attend the opening ceremonies,” Hillary Clinton declared.
For all that, neither the tough Congress resolution nor the determined appeals of the Democratic opponents to the Republican administration have had any impact on President Bush’s plans to set off for Beijing in August. In his interview to the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) to be broadcast today in connection with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the USA George Bush stated his viewpoint on the matter. “My plans haven’t changed,” said Bush giving to understand that he was not going to boycott the opening ceremonies. Admitting the necessity to thrash out the crackdown on human rights and freedoms with Beijing, the US president failed to link that problem to the Beijing Olympics. “I can talk to (China’s President Hu Jintao) about religious freedom prior to the Olympics, during the Olympics and after the Olympics, which I have done,” Bush said. In his turn, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Sean McCormack emphasized the fact that the Bush administration was not considering a commercial boycott against China in view of the Tibet issue.
Nonetheless the question whether the Beijing Olympics must be boycotted and what political steps can be taken against China has recently sharpened. In the USA it is the Democratic leaders who require that even more pressure be exerted on China, whereas in the EU the European Parliament calls for joint actions concerning the Beijing Olympics. The European Parliament President, Hans-Gert Pöttering claimed on Wednesday that “The governments of the EU member-states must work out a common approach to the August 08 opening ceremonies. The top world politicians should not take part in them unless the Dalai Lama is invited to negotiations with the Chinese government.”
It need be noted that the leaders of New Europe are most zealous in displaying their resentment at the Beijing policy. The President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, his Estonian counterpart Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk have already stated that they will not attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing.
As to Old Europe, the majority of the governments have taken a more prudent stand, which lies in the belief that considering the geopolitical and economic impact of Beijing, it’s better to avoid a direct confrontation with the government of China regardless of the disapproval of its policy. Remarkably, Britain’s Gordon Brown, who decided to abstain from attending the opening ceremonies, will do a pleasure to the Chinese government – he will come to the closing ceremonies. According to Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, David Miliband, the boycott of the Olympics is out of the question because it won’t influence the situation in Tibet anyway.” The French government’s position is almost the same.
Another fact proving that there is no common understanding of the Beijing Olympics problem is the statement of the Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, whose visit to Beijing starts today. My opinion is that we should not boycott the Beijing Olympics, neither the opening ceremony nor the Games. It was well-known for the world when the International Olympic Committee made its decision in 2001 that China was not a country that works the way we think a democracy should work. If the criteria were not met then you can’t now suddenly act on human rights abuses,” explained Sweden’s Prime Minister.
As to Russia, the western demand for a boycott or other sort of demarche appears irrelevant and unacceptable. “We will not endorse the attempts to boycott the forthcoming Olympics, which is a major global event,” claimed Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, who arrived in the Chinese capital for a visit this week.
In Moscow, human rights activists were the only ones to urge the boycott of the Olympics. “The moral boycott of the Beijing Olympics might teach the Russian government a lesson on the threshold of the Sochi 2014 Olympics,” reads a statement signed by the Chief Executive of the movement “For human rights”, Lev Ponomarev, the Director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Center, Yuri Samodurov, and the President of the Andrei Sakharov Fund, Sergei Kovalev. Admitting that it’s impossible to “to require that thousands of athletes refuse to participate in the longed-for competition”, the human rights activists call on statesmen, public figures and cultural workers “to condemn the idea of the “ant hill” state’s supremacy and the pettiness of a human life and dignity as opposed to the repressive regime and the gloss of imperial might.”
&Dalai Lama Backs Beijing Olympics
Yesterday the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, the Dalai Lama set off for Seattle, WA, where he is going to deliver a lecture. During his stopover in Tokyo on the way from India, he didn’t meet with any officials, holding a press-conference at Narita airport instead. The Dalai Lama said that his visit was “not political”. Speaking about the unrest in Tibet, the Chinese government’s crackdown on it and the recent demand for the boycott of the Beijing Olympics, as well as the accusations of his being privy to organizing the protests in Tibet, Dalai Lama claimed, “We are not anti-Chinese. We have supported the Olympics from the outset. I really feel sad the government there almost demonizes me. I’m just a human being – hopefully not a demon.”
“Actually one source of problem inside Tibet is there is no freedom of speech”, the Dalai Lama said adding that “the Tibetan people are not given “genuine” autonomy regarding preservation of their culture and other things.” He called on the government of the People’s Republic of China “to accept the reality” and try to find the solution to the Tibet problem according to the reality. He rendered supression of protests with military force obsolete, stating that “Nobody has sort of rights to say “Shut up.”
The Dalai Lama once more denied that he masterminded the unrest in Tibet, as the China’s government thinks.
“Some people there (in the Chinese government – Ú) believe Tibetan Buddhism to be the source of separatism,” said the Dalai Lama stressing that this view made Beijing clamp down on the demonstrations in Tibet. At that, he assured that “If things improve and (the) Chinese government starts to look realistically, I personally want to enjoy the big ceremony.”
Ivan Andreyev
&Plot against the Olympics Foiled in China
The Chinese authorities proclaimed having crushed two terrorist groups, plotting to carry out terrorist attacks during the Beijing Olympics, residents of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region populated by Muslims mostly said to belong to the groups.
According to the Spokesperson with the Ministry for Public Security, U Heping, one of the groups had links to the East Turkestan Islamic movement, which in 2002 was included on the UN list of terrorist organizations because of its connection with Al Qaeda. This group, headed by Adji Muhammat, inspired its members to carry out subversive activities using poisoned meat, poison-gases and remote control explosive devices.
The terrorists were going to plot an international incident intended to wreck the Olympics, according to the Ministry. The group bought explosives and tested them 13 times. In case arrested, the terrorists were ready to blow themselves up. The police detained 10 members of the group, with several terrorists still on a wanted list. More to the point, the police found 16,000 yuans ($2,300) and a number of tutorials for terrorists headlined “Holy war”. The group was to begin its terrorist activity in May in Beijing and Shanghai.
Another group was planning to kidnap foreign reporters, tourists and athletes. With this said, 35 people were arrested, and 9,5 kg of explosives, 9 detonators and propaganda books seized.
“We confronted a true terrorist threat,” Mr U Heping stated.
Andrei Ivanov
Sergei Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 11, 2008
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