Steel Butterfly
11-04-2008, 02:22
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
BEIJING — The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, offered a rare criticism of the Chinese government on Thursday, calling on the authorities to respect its “moral engagement” to improve human rights and to provide the news media with greater access to the country ahead of the Beijing Games.
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Greg Baker/Associated Press
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Related
Dalai Lama Shows Support for Olympics, and Protests (April 11, 2008)
The Lede: The Beleaguered Torch, Now With Nazi Origins (April 9, 2008)
Times Topics: Olympic Games (2008)Mr. Rogge’s comments on China, made at a news conference here during which he described the protests that have dogged the torch relay as a “crisis” for the organization, were a departure from his previous statements that strenuously avoided any mention of politics.
The Chinese government immediately rejected Mr. Rogge’s remarks, saying they amounted to an unwelcome meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. “I believe I.O.C. officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.
Despite the crisis, Mr. Rogge insisted that the skirmishes in London, Paris and San Francisco would not derail the six-continent pageant leading up to the Beijing Games in August.
“There is no scenario of interrupting or bringing the torch back to Beijing,” he said.
The chaos that has interrupted the torch relay and rattled the International Olympic Committee came as the authorities here announced the discovery of what they described as a plan by terrorists from the country’s restive Xinjiang region to disrupt the games by kidnapping foreign journalists, athletes and spectators at the Summer Games.
The authorities said they arrested 35 people and confiscated explosives and detonators belonging to a jihadist group based in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in the country’s far west, long a source of unrest among the region’s majority Muslim population.
In the past, officials have announced the discovery of similar plots without providing much evidence, including what they said last month was a plan to hijack an airplane. Some analysts have suggested that such crackdowns have been used as a distraction from internal unrest and a means to justify the suppression of separatist Muslim Uighurs.
Speaking before a two-day meeting of the Olympic committee’s executive board, Mr. Rogge condemned the protesters who had hounded torch bearers, but he also called on the Chinese authorities to honor their pledges to improve human rights and to give foreign journalists unfettered access to all parts of the country.
“We will do our best to have this be realized,” he said of a recent Chinese regulation that guarantees reporters the right to travel to all parts of the country, including Tibet, where access has been restricted since the outbreak of violence last month.
During the news conference, Mr. Rogge said he met with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China for an hour on Wednesday, but he would not reveal details of their conversation. Mr. Rogge has long avoided criticizing China, saying that pressuring the government on Tibet and other human rights issues was likely to backfire.
“China will close itself off from the rest of the world, which, don’t forget, it has done for some 2,000 years,” he said in an interview broadcast Wednesday in his native Belgium.
Olympic committee members have been taken aback by the scope and ferocity of the protests, which are marring what has traditionally been a festive event involving 20,000 torch bearers. Although the protests in San Francisco were not as violent or disruptive as in London and Paris, the torch’s sole North American visit was a disappointment to thousands of spectators after the relay route was changed at the last minute in an effort to avoid the kind of tussling between protesters and the police that had characterized earlier ceremonies.
After officials moved the planned closing ceremony at the San Francisco waterfront to another location on Wednesday, the Olympic flame was taken aboard an airplane bound for Argentina, the next stop on its worldwide tour.
The committee members who gathered at a hotel in central Beijing offered harsh words for demonstrators who used the relay to publicize issues ranging from Tibetan religious freedom to environmental concerns. Gunilla Lindberg, a vice president of the committee, likened some of the more vociferous protesters to terrorists and said they had emboldened committee members to keep the relay going.
“We will never give into violence,” Ms. Lindberg said. “These are not the friendly demonstrators for a free Tibet, but professional demonstrators, the ones who show up at G-8 conferences to be seen and fight.”
Denis Oswald, a committee member from Switzerland, said those who thought that interrupting the torch relay, or the Games themselves, would push China to improve its human rights record were wrongheaded and naïve. He noted that it took Europe several centuries to become truly democratic and said it was unwise to expect China to do the same in a few years.
“We have to give them time, and as long as they’re moving in the right direction we should be patient,” he said. He added that those who disrupt the relay “do not respect the freedom of people who want to enjoy it.”
In announcing the disruption of what they described as a pair of terrorist plots, Chinese officials from the Ministry of Public Security said they had arrested leaders of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, who they said had confessed to planning attacks in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.
The authorities said they had seized 19 explosive devices, 4 kilograms of explosive material, 7 detonators, and “9 kinds of raw materials to be used for waging a holy war.” They said the group was led by Aji Mai Mai Ti, who had urged his fellow plotters to use “poisonous meat," "poisonous gas" and remote-controlled explosives. Officials said they had arrested the group’s leaders but that other members were still being sought.
Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said that the group was unaware of the plot and that it had learned about the arrests only from Chinese television. Still, she said the committee had full confidence that the police would guarantee security at the games. “We trust very much the authorities will handle that with the right approach,” she said.
Despite the chaos along the torch relay route, Mr. Rogge said he expected the Olympics to proceed without a hitch. He cited the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972 and boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984 as far more disruptive and said he hoped the public would soon focus on the essence of the Olympics: athletic competition and world unity.
“It is a crisis, there is no doubt about that, but the I.O.C. has weathered many bigger storms,” he said.
Asked if he had any regrets about awarding the games to Beijing, Mr. Rogge remarked that the country’s bid was not only the best among nations that had vied for the Olympics but that he thought it was especially compelling to have them held in a country with a fifth of the world’s population. “It is very easy with hindsight to criticize the decision,” he said. “It’s easy to say now that this was not a wise and sound decision.”
Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee criticized China today in regards to both the Olympic host’s civil rights and media access. Various nations have boycotted the ceremonial passing of the torch, an act which Rogge calls a crisis for the IOC. However, China vehemently opposed Rogge’s comments, saying that they are sure that the IOC will adhere to their charter and not bring any irrelevant politics into the discussion.
I am of mixed opinions on this topic. On one hand, China’s unruly civil rights, their refusal to free Tibet, and their governmental system should all be protested. On the other, however, the Olympics is supposed to be a sporting event, not a political one. Mr. Rogge claims that hindsight is 20/20 and that what’s not easy is looking back and saying that awarding the games to China was a sound decision, but he obviously fails to realize that it’s not easy to say such a thing because it’s not true. China should have never held the games in the first place.
BEIJING — The president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, offered a rare criticism of the Chinese government on Thursday, calling on the authorities to respect its “moral engagement” to improve human rights and to provide the news media with greater access to the country ahead of the Beijing Games.
Skip to next paragraph
Greg Baker/Associated Press
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Related
Dalai Lama Shows Support for Olympics, and Protests (April 11, 2008)
The Lede: The Beleaguered Torch, Now With Nazi Origins (April 9, 2008)
Times Topics: Olympic Games (2008)Mr. Rogge’s comments on China, made at a news conference here during which he described the protests that have dogged the torch relay as a “crisis” for the organization, were a departure from his previous statements that strenuously avoided any mention of politics.
The Chinese government immediately rejected Mr. Rogge’s remarks, saying they amounted to an unwelcome meddling in the country’s domestic affairs. “I believe I.O.C. officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors,” Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.
Despite the crisis, Mr. Rogge insisted that the skirmishes in London, Paris and San Francisco would not derail the six-continent pageant leading up to the Beijing Games in August.
“There is no scenario of interrupting or bringing the torch back to Beijing,” he said.
The chaos that has interrupted the torch relay and rattled the International Olympic Committee came as the authorities here announced the discovery of what they described as a plan by terrorists from the country’s restive Xinjiang region to disrupt the games by kidnapping foreign journalists, athletes and spectators at the Summer Games.
The authorities said they arrested 35 people and confiscated explosives and detonators belonging to a jihadist group based in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, in the country’s far west, long a source of unrest among the region’s majority Muslim population.
In the past, officials have announced the discovery of similar plots without providing much evidence, including what they said last month was a plan to hijack an airplane. Some analysts have suggested that such crackdowns have been used as a distraction from internal unrest and a means to justify the suppression of separatist Muslim Uighurs.
Speaking before a two-day meeting of the Olympic committee’s executive board, Mr. Rogge condemned the protesters who had hounded torch bearers, but he also called on the Chinese authorities to honor their pledges to improve human rights and to give foreign journalists unfettered access to all parts of the country.
“We will do our best to have this be realized,” he said of a recent Chinese regulation that guarantees reporters the right to travel to all parts of the country, including Tibet, where access has been restricted since the outbreak of violence last month.
During the news conference, Mr. Rogge said he met with Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China for an hour on Wednesday, but he would not reveal details of their conversation. Mr. Rogge has long avoided criticizing China, saying that pressuring the government on Tibet and other human rights issues was likely to backfire.
“China will close itself off from the rest of the world, which, don’t forget, it has done for some 2,000 years,” he said in an interview broadcast Wednesday in his native Belgium.
Olympic committee members have been taken aback by the scope and ferocity of the protests, which are marring what has traditionally been a festive event involving 20,000 torch bearers. Although the protests in San Francisco were not as violent or disruptive as in London and Paris, the torch’s sole North American visit was a disappointment to thousands of spectators after the relay route was changed at the last minute in an effort to avoid the kind of tussling between protesters and the police that had characterized earlier ceremonies.
After officials moved the planned closing ceremony at the San Francisco waterfront to another location on Wednesday, the Olympic flame was taken aboard an airplane bound for Argentina, the next stop on its worldwide tour.
The committee members who gathered at a hotel in central Beijing offered harsh words for demonstrators who used the relay to publicize issues ranging from Tibetan religious freedom to environmental concerns. Gunilla Lindberg, a vice president of the committee, likened some of the more vociferous protesters to terrorists and said they had emboldened committee members to keep the relay going.
“We will never give into violence,” Ms. Lindberg said. “These are not the friendly demonstrators for a free Tibet, but professional demonstrators, the ones who show up at G-8 conferences to be seen and fight.”
Denis Oswald, a committee member from Switzerland, said those who thought that interrupting the torch relay, or the Games themselves, would push China to improve its human rights record were wrongheaded and naïve. He noted that it took Europe several centuries to become truly democratic and said it was unwise to expect China to do the same in a few years.
“We have to give them time, and as long as they’re moving in the right direction we should be patient,” he said. He added that those who disrupt the relay “do not respect the freedom of people who want to enjoy it.”
In announcing the disruption of what they described as a pair of terrorist plots, Chinese officials from the Ministry of Public Security said they had arrested leaders of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, who they said had confessed to planning attacks in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.
The authorities said they had seized 19 explosive devices, 4 kilograms of explosive material, 7 detonators, and “9 kinds of raw materials to be used for waging a holy war.” They said the group was led by Aji Mai Mai Ti, who had urged his fellow plotters to use “poisonous meat," "poisonous gas" and remote-controlled explosives. Officials said they had arrested the group’s leaders but that other members were still being sought.
Giselle Davies, a spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee, said that the group was unaware of the plot and that it had learned about the arrests only from Chinese television. Still, she said the committee had full confidence that the police would guarantee security at the games. “We trust very much the authorities will handle that with the right approach,” she said.
Despite the chaos along the torch relay route, Mr. Rogge said he expected the Olympics to proceed without a hitch. He cited the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972 and boycotts in 1976, 1980 and 1984 as far more disruptive and said he hoped the public would soon focus on the essence of the Olympics: athletic competition and world unity.
“It is a crisis, there is no doubt about that, but the I.O.C. has weathered many bigger storms,” he said.
Asked if he had any regrets about awarding the games to Beijing, Mr. Rogge remarked that the country’s bid was not only the best among nations that had vied for the Olympics but that he thought it was especially compelling to have them held in a country with a fifth of the world’s population. “It is very easy with hindsight to criticize the decision,” he said. “It’s easy to say now that this was not a wise and sound decision.”
Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee criticized China today in regards to both the Olympic host’s civil rights and media access. Various nations have boycotted the ceremonial passing of the torch, an act which Rogge calls a crisis for the IOC. However, China vehemently opposed Rogge’s comments, saying that they are sure that the IOC will adhere to their charter and not bring any irrelevant politics into the discussion.
I am of mixed opinions on this topic. On one hand, China’s unruly civil rights, their refusal to free Tibet, and their governmental system should all be protested. On the other, however, the Olympics is supposed to be a sporting event, not a political one. Mr. Rogge claims that hindsight is 20/20 and that what’s not easy is looking back and saying that awarding the games to China was a sound decision, but he obviously fails to realize that it’s not easy to say such a thing because it’s not true. China should have never held the games in the first place.