Red China Communists hide internal human rights problem to Chinese
people until it faces to free world
Does that mean there are numerous CIA's (sic) in the world get
involved in this protest. Who paid the CIA's ??? (sic)
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Olympic Officials to Discuss Future of Torch Relay
By Jill Drew
Wa****ngton Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 8, 2008; 11:57 AM
BEIJING, April 8 -- Top members of the International Olympic
Committee, distressed by the raucous anti-China protests that marred
the torch relay in London and Paris, will meet Friday to discuss
whether to change, or perhaps even end, the international leg of the
journey.
This Story
As the torch arrived in San Francisco to begin its next stage, Chinese
officials vowed the relay would continue on its planned route, and
countries in line to host the torch relay said they were stepping up
security.
Meanwhile, the president of the International Olympic Committee,
Jacques Rogge, was asked at a news conference in Beijing whether the
continuation of the international relay was certain.
"I'm not saying whether it is certain or not," he said. "There will be
a discussion of the executive board on the torch relay, but I attach
on that absolutely no speculation whatsoever."
Vigorous street protests in Paris and London sent the torch's
triumphal run into disarray, and organizers were bracing for more of
the same in San Francisco. Thousands of protesters are expected to
gather, with actor Richard Gere and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
scheduled to lead a candlelight vigil in sup****t of Tibetan rights,
and a counter-relay and other events planned by a variety of groups.
Rather than a symbol of the Olympic spirit, the torch has become a
magnet for protesting myriad Chinese policies on Tibet, human rights
and press freedoms and its sup****t of repressive governments in Burma
and Sudan.
Chinese and Olympic spokespeople issued strong condemnations of the
protests, calling them "vile" and "blasphemy." Foreign Ministry
spokeswoman Jiang Yu emphasized in a news conference that people did
not understand the facts of what was happening in China. "Playing up
some topics to tarnish China's image ahead of the Olympics will surely
get nowhere," she said.
Official Chinese media broadcast images from Monday's protests in
Paris. Newspapers generally blamed the actions on Tibetan
"separatists," although one newspaper, the Global Times, criticized
the French government for not doing more to protect the flame.
Qu Yingpu, spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay team,
emphasized that the relay was meant to bring people together, not tear
them apart. "Mutual understanding and respect is particularly crucial
in the context of intensifying globalization," Yingpu wrote in China
Daily, the official English-language newspaper.
Among students on Beijing campuses, reaction to the protests was
relatively muted.
"I'm surprised about what the protesters did, but there's no smoke
without fire. I think our government didn't handle the Tibetan issue
as perfectly as we imagined," said Guan Jiaxin, a 25-year-old physics
student from Tsinghua University. "Next time all of our internal
problems have to be dealt with well before we host another event like
this."
Another student, who spoke on condition he only be identified by his
surname, Shen, said that "it's not hard to understand why they protest
so strongly during the torch relay. . . . They think human rights is
above all."
Shen, a 23-year-old international relations student at Beijing
University, said: "The origin of the huge difference in understanding
between the West and China is complicated. It's not simply because the
Chinese government is not transparent or the Western media is biased,
but because Cold War thinking still hasn't finished in the West. The
majority of people who haven't come to China or don't know much about
China still think that the Communist-led government must be an evil
government."
Although many groups, including the banned religious organization
Falun Gong, have stationed protesters along the torch's route, most of
the reaction in China to the relay protests was focused on those
sup****ting autonomy for Tibet. Protests erupted in Tibetan regions of
China on March 10, when monks were arrested for demonstrating and
calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual
leader. The protests soon spread and, in some places, broke out into
deadly riots in the worst unrest Tibet has seen in nearly 20 years.
Thousands of Chinese armed police were sent to put down the protests
and arrest those involved, sparking condemnations from international
human rights groups.
"Some international media have biased opinions about the Tibet issue,"
said Zhang Wanli, a 24-year-old Beijing travel agent. "They should pay
more attention to the human rights issues and minority issues in their
own countries."
Researchers Liu Liu and Liu Songjie contributed to this re****t.
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