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Friday July 13 4:35 PM ET
In U.S., Hope And Outrage Over China Victory
Photos

Reuters Photo


By Elaine Monaghan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China's selection as host of the 2008 Olympic Games
(news - web sites) despite widespread criticism of its human rights record
evoked hope, outrage and dismay in the United States on Friday.

The Bush administration, which had remained neutral on the issue, urged
China to show a ``modern'' face, while lawmakers lined up to condemn the
International Olympic Committee (news - web sites) and dissidents asked if
morality had lost its voice.

A spokesman for President Bush (news - web sites) was noncommittal.

``The president believes that the Olympics are a sporting event, not a
political event. But having said that, this now is an opportunity for
China to showcase itself as a modern nation,'' said White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer (news - web sites).

Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill said China's contentious human
rights record should have disqualified it.

Dismayed Chinese dissidents, including a participant in the bloody
Tiananmen uprising of 1989, called for a boycott.

Yet many of the lawmakers tempered their anger with expressions of hope
that China might become a more democratic society in preparing for the
games. U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites)
said U.S. athletes would attend.

``If freedom of expression, freedom of thought and an end to brutal
repression of dissent are indeed in the offing, then rewarding the
Olympics to Beijing will be a milestone,'' said Rep. Christopher Cox (news
- bio - voting record), a California Republican.

Rep. Tom Lantos (news - bio - voting record) of California, a Democrat,
said the IOC's decision ``truly boggles the mind'' and added, ``This
decision will allow the Chinese police state to bask in the reflected
glory of the Olympic games despite having one of the most abominable human
rights records in the world.''

A MODERN SHOWCASE?

The Bush administration had avoided expressing an opinion on the
selection, saying it had no vote at the IOC, although it keeps China's
record on human and civil rights and religious freedom under constant
scrutiny and frequently slams it.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher, a China expert who is often
the mouthpiece for the criticism, also expressed ''sport-over-politics''
sentiments when asked to comment.

``It's very exciting for China and the athletes who will compete there.
I'm sure it will be a great place for our athletes to compete,'' he told a
news briefing.

``We're not going to turn it into a political event. But we do think it's
an opportunity for China ... to showcase itself as a modern country and as
a progressive country and we would hope they would take that
opportunity.''

Rice said she hoped the U.S. athletes would ``hopefully compete very well
and bring home lots of gold medals.''

But she said the United States remained concerned about the human rights
in China, a problem that had prompted U.S. lawmakers to debate whether the
Games should be held there.

``We have a human rights agenda with China. I think the Chinese expect it
and we'll continue to pursue that in our bilateral relationship,'' she
said, noting it had come up in Bush's discussions with President Jiang
Zemin (news - web sites) this month.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) will have an
opportunity to pursue this issue when he visits China this month.

But for Chinese dissidents, the decision to award the games to Beijing
left its leaders with no incentive to change.

``We think those sportsmen and sportswomen with human conscience will not
be proud to join a game which would be hosted in a city with shame and
blood and murder,'' said Shengde Lian of the Free China Movement, a
participant in the Tiananmen student uprising crushed by the People's
Liberation Army.

``Where is the moral voice of the international community, and why has it
gone silent?'' asked Timothy Cooper, U.S.-based representative of the
China Democracy Party. He joined a group of dissidents who called a news
conference to condemn the IOC decision.

One outspoken China critic, Republican Sen. Jesse Helms (news - bio -
voting record) of North Carolina, described the IOC's decision as ``an
affront to those who dare to speak up for freedom in China.''

``We should remember Hitler's march into the Rhineland in 1935 and
Brezhnev's invasion of Afghanistan (news - web sites) in 1979, both of
which occurred just before both dictators hosted the Olympic Games,'' he
said, referring to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

Cox, Lantos and Helms were among lawmakers who backed nonbinding
resolutions that urged the IOC to reject China's bid but never reached the
floor of the House or Senate for a vote.

(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles, Thomas Ferraro and Letitia
Stein)更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

无论中国国情怎样,毕竟是我们的祖国!对于能够主办这样一个全球的体育盛事,作为一个海外游子,我衷心地为她祝福!
举办奥运会,对于提高国家影响力,振兴经济,改善环境-无论是自然的还是人为的都有极大的好处.这是对中国有百利而无一弊的事,作为炎黄子孙,我们都应感到庆幸才对.但这个论坛上也有一些不和谐的声音,尤其有一些打着民主旗号却对中国迈向富强,进步之路百般阻挠,唯恐中国不乱,唯恐中国强大的人.诚然,中国有不少还要痛需改进的地方,但这并不彷碍我们去热爱她啊!这些所谓的民主志 士,其中可能大部分是有中国血统的人-只是有血统而已,我不认为他们还有做炎黄子孙的权利-当然这些家伙可能还以能当杂种为荣呢!他们只是一群飘泊无根的可怜虫,通过出卖自己的灵魂和做人的尊严来获得主子的欢心.我从内心对这帮人鄙视!
看吧,保证有些家伙要坐不住出来生事.我只是说出自己的一点看法,希望与各位炎黄子孙共勉!

本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Saturday, July 14 10:56 AM SGT
US lawmakers, Chinese dissident decry Olympic committee decision
WASHINGTON, July 13 (AFP) - Outraged Chinese dissidents in the United States joined leading US lawmakers in protesting the decision by the International Olympic Committee to award the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing, with one group calling for a boycott.
"Just as the Chinese government has abused the spirit of sport through conducting executions and sentencing rallies in athletic stadiums, so they will also use the economic and publicity benefits of hosting the Olympics to prop up their corrupt regime," said former political prisoner Harry Wu in a statement Friday.
Democratic House of Representative member Tom Lantos, who has led the US Congress in opposition to Beijing's Olympic bid based on its human rights record, said the IOC's decision "truly boggles the mind."
"This decision will allow the Chinese police state to bask in the reflected glory of the Olympic Games despite having one of the most abominable human rights records in the world," he said in a statement.
Officially, President George W. Bush has remained neutral on the IOC's choice. But leading members of his Republican party expressed outrage and pledged to spend the next seven years spotlighting China's human rights record.
Republican House Majority Whip Tom Delay, for example, vowed to "use every opportunity in Congress to call national and international attention to the human rights abuses, religious persecution and political oppression by the Communist government in China."
The Free China Movement called for a boycott of the event.
"As a result of the IOC's decision today we are left with no choice but to call for an international boycott of the 2008 Games," said movement spokesman Shengde Lian, also a student leader during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said the IOC would be considered an accomplice if China gets away with abuses related to the Games.
The IOC's decision came after months of stiff competition among Osaka, Paris, Toronto, Beijing and Istanbul, and much controversy over China's record of human rights.
"As a native Chinese," wrote dissident Harry Wu, "I know that today's decision has made the hearts of the Chinese people swell with pride. But in my heart I can only feel caution that the IOC has perhaps made a horrible mistake."
Wu spent 19 years in Chinese prisons for political dissent. He came to the United States in 1985 and has returned to China three times since then to investigate human rights abuses.
Wu wrote that he will "deeply regret that my native land will not have the honor and the reward of hosting the Olympic Games as a free and democratic nation."
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom -- created in 1988 to give independent recommendations to the US president and to congress -- said it was "deeply disappointed" by the IOC move.
In a statement the Commission said it hoped Bush and other leaders would now "press China to live up to the obligations it has undertaken to ensure ... that the Games take place in an atmosphere in which the religious freedom and human rights of participants, spectators, and Chinese citizens are honored and protected."
A spokeswoman for the Chinese Falungong spiritual movement called on the IOC to closely monitor the Chinese government in the years leading up to the games.
"We are calling on the IOC that there should be international representatives through the committee or through an international monitoring board (sent to China). We'd like to see it immediately," Gail Rachlin told AFP.
"We are concerned that (winning the games) will give them license to escalate their persecutions," she said.
China banned the Falungong movement in July 1999, three months after organizing a silent demonstration by 10,000 followers in central Beijing.
Since then hundreds of Falungong followers have been sentenced to prison and tens of thousands sent to reeducation camps. Human rights groups say more than 100 have died in police detention.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net