Olympics chief rejects boycott over Tibet
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) — The president of the International Olympic Committee rejected the idea of boycotting the Summer Games in Beijing over China’s crackdown in Tibet, saying it would only hurt athletes.
“We believe that the boycott doesn’t solve anything,” Jacques Rogge told reporters Saturday on this Caribbean island. “On the contrary, it is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing.”
Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet on Friday — the most violent riots there in nearly two decades — left at least 30 protesters dead, according to a Tibetan exile group. Tibetan exiles in India reported as many as 100 dead.
China ordered tourists out of Tibet’s capital and troops patrolled the streets on Saturday.
On a six-day tour of the Caribbean, Rogge expressed condolences for the victims and said he hopes calm will be restored immediately. He declined to say whether the committee would change its stance if violence continues or more people are killed.
Comment by will on 16 March 2008:
I have to admit that I have always been ambivalent about China hosting the Olympic Games.
On the one had I do see the need for engagement and dialog with China.
But on the other hand, having the Olympic Games in China may be interpreted as an implicit approval of what is a totalitarian regime.
I think this whole situation with Tibet could have been predicted beforehand.
In addition, China is shutting down all the factories around Beijing for 8 weeks prior to the Olympics in order to cut down on smog.
Will this negatively impact the workers in those factories?