The Chinese Saga of Olympic Shame Continues . . . .Olympic torch relay
fails to dispel worries /FT
Financial Times FT.com
Olympic torch relay fails to dispel worries
By Richard McGregor in Beijing
Published: March 31 2008 16:23 | Last updated: March 31 2008 16:23
China¡¯s final preparations for the Olympics ****fted into high gear on
Monday with the launch of the official torch relay, amid rising anxiety
and anger in Beijing that the high-profile event will be dogged by
protests over Tibet and other issues.
Hu Jintao, the president, and Xi Jinping, his heir-apparent, presided
over the ceremony in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, seeing off the
torch on the first leg of a journey that will take the symbolic flame
around the world.
Mr Hu makes few public appearances, even under the tight security
deployed on Monday, and his presence underlined the im****tance that the
Communist party and government place on the success of the games.
¡°The century-old dream of the Chinese people to host the Olympic Games
has been turned into a reality,¡± said Mr Xi, the country¡¯s
vice-president and the senior official in charge of the games¡¯
preparations.
Inside China the torch is expected to be taken to the top of Mount
Everest, as long as conditions allow, an event for which two cameramen
from state TV have been training for two years.
But more sensitive is the journey of a second torch on an international
leg, due to travel through 21 countries over 130 days. Last week¡¯s
flame-lighting ceremony in Greece was hit by a protest and future legs
of the torch relay are expected to be targeted as well.
The need to surround the torch with heavy security as it is carried
through narrow streets in cities such as Paris and London will infuriate
a government which has promoted the event as a ¡°journey of harmony¡±.
Chinese anxiety over the issue has been increased in recent days over
sup****t in some European countries for a boycott of the August 8 opening
ceremony following recent violence in Tibet.
China has blamed the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader,
and what the Chinese media call his ¡°clique¡± for the March uprising in
Tibet and attacks on ethnic Chinese.
Xinhua, the official news agency, on Monday detailed what it called
China¡¯s case over the ¡°Dalai clique¡¯s¡± instigation of the riots,
citing
the ¡°confession¡± of a detained suspect in Lhasa. The ¡°suspect¡± said
the
¡°security department¡± of the Tibetan government-in-exile had asked him
to distribute leaflets promoting the uprising to civilians and monks,
Xinhua said.
But the People¡¯s Daily, mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, made
little mention of the Dalai Lama, focusing the blame instead on the
Tibetan Youth Congress, a group of young exiles.
The Tibet Daily, the official party paper in the Himalayan region,
re****ted eight senior government officials had been replaced, suggesting
the central government was also angry about the failure of the
authorities to anticipate the ?problem.
The Olympic torch travelling the world is due to return to China on
August 6. It will then be used to light the cauldron at the opening
ceremony two days later.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
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