Where is the Harmonious "Olympic Host" -- China says foils Olympics
terrorist plot
--Micky's hunble opinion: It is obvious that so called "harmony" is yet
another fairy tale fabricated by the Propaganda Apparatus of the Chinese
government. Tyrants can only enjoy constant fear. --
China says foils Olympics terrorist plot
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG81204.htm
10 Apr 2008 11:38:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Repeating to additional subcribers with no changes in text) (Adds
Indonesia route shortened, Rudd comments)
By Ian Ransom and Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING, April 10 (Reuters) - Chinese authorities foiled plots to kidnap
foreigners and carry out suicide attacks around the Beijing Olympics,
police said on Thursday, in a fresh blow to the image of harmony China
has sought to promote before the Games.
The European Parliament, meanwhile, voted for a possible boycott by EU
leaders of the Olympics opening ceremony if China fails to talk to the
Dalai Lama, raising pressure on Beijing over the way it has handled a
recent wave of unrest in Tibet and neighbouring areas.
Authorities in the restive northwestern region of Xinjiang detained 45
suspects and seized explosives and firearms in an operation a police
spokesman said cracked two terrorist groups seeking to disrupt the
Olympics.
"We are facing a real terrorist threat. All walks of life and the public
should maintain a high degree of vigilance," police spokesman Wu Heping
told a news conference.
China has heightened security in advance of the Games, which start on
Aug. 8, following a rash of anti-Beijing unrest in Tibet and
neighbouring areas. Re****ts have also emerged of at least one
pro-independence protest in Xinjiang last month.
In San Francisco, the determination to avoid incidents turned the torch
relay into a widely criticised game of hide-and-seek as the route was
abruptly changed after the flame was besieged by human rights protesters
in London and Paris.
Indonesia will significantly shorten its leg of the Olympic torch relay
on April 22 in Jakarta following a request by Beijing over security
concerns, a s****ts official said on Thursday.
The path the torch takes on May 2 in Hong Kong, its first stop in China,
will be curtailed "to avoid embarrassing scenes", Hong Kong's South
China Morning Post re****ted, quoting an unnamed government source.
International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said the torch
relay faced a crisis and athletes around the world were in disarray, but
he was confident the Olympics would rebound and urged competitors not to
lose faith.
"DISGUSTING" CONDUCT
China's ambassador to the United States condemned a pur****ted attempt to
disrupt the U.S. leg of the relay, saying such "disgusting" conduct was
doomed to fail.
"A tiny group of people ignored the spirit of the Olympic charter and
tried to disrupt and sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games," the official
Xinhua news agency quoted Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong as saying. He did not
elaborate on the pur****ted plot.
For its part, Tibet's government-in-exile said it was not trying to
disrupt the torch relay, and the Dalai Lama said he had asked Tibetans
in San Francisco not to be violent, reiterating his sup****t of the Games
in Beijing.
Monk-led protests gave way to riots in Lhasa on March 14, sparking
demonstrations in other Tibetan-populated areas that China's government
has suppressed with a flood of troops.
Beijing ordered monks to undergo "patriotic education" and launched a
propaganda campaign blaming Tibet's spiritual leader and his associates
for orchestrating the unrest as part of a campaign for independence. The
Dalai Lama denies involvement.
Groups unhappy about China's human rights record and its policies on
Sudan's Darfur region have sought to pressure Beijing as it prepares to
host the Olympics.
In Beijing, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told Rogge the torch is a
"****ning symbol of peace, friend****p and progress", the People's Daily,
the voice of the Communist Party, re****ted.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Tibet had figured prominently
in talks with Wen on Thursday. Rudd said his government believed there
were "significant human rights problems" in Tibet that should be
resolved through dialogue.
But he indicated Wen and other Chinese officials showed no wavering from
their public stance.
"Their position today has been consistent with the public position China
has adopted in recent times," Rudd told a news conference after his
meeting.
Hours before the San Francisco relay, President George W. Bush urged
China to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader
who lives in exile in India.
Bush and other Western leaders face a delicate balancing act as calls
mount for them to boycott the Olympics opening ceremony.
Speaking in New Delhi, Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan
government-in-exile, said it was open to a dialogue, and Beijing was
sending many signals through "all kinds of channels".
"But they are mixed signals. We are not able to understand." (Writing by
John Ruwitch; Additional re****ting by Guo ****peng, Chris Buckley, Nick
Mulvenney and Sally Huang in Beijing, and Chisa Fujioka in Japan;
Editing by Jerry Norton)
AlertNet news is provided by Reuters
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HKG81204.htm
|
