[+/-] : Obama says he wouldn't attend the Olympics opening

Obama says he wouldn't attend the Olympics opening

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama took issue Monday with President Bush's decision to attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games, saying he would go to Beijing only if he saw progress between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.

"In the absence of some sense of progress, in the absence of some sense from the Dalai Lama that there was progress, I would not have gone," the presidential candidate told reporters at a news conference.

Obama previously has called on the Republican president to boycott the ceremonies.

Bush said last week that he will attend opening ceremonies for the games in Beijing next month. Some world leaders plan to boycott the event because of China's human rights record and its handling of unrest in Tibet.

Chinese officials met last week with two envoys sent to Beijing by the Dalai Lama from his exile base in India.

A statement issued Saturday from the Tibetan side said another meeting would be held in October, but said it wished the Chinese leadership had taken "more tangible" steps during the talks. The Chinese side failed to agree to issue a joint statement committing the two sides to talks, it said

Obama said he "would liked to have seen some more aggressive efforts to encourage progress and talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.

"It strikes me that although some meetings have been taking place, that we were not aggressive in encouraging the Chinese government to make serious concessions there," he said.

Bush on Sunday defended his decision, saying that to skip the opening ceremonies would be an "affront" to the Chinese people.

Obama's Republican rival, John McCain, said in April that if he were president, he would only attend the opening ceremonies if China improves its record on human rights and other issues.
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[+/-] : IOC investigates anti-Dalai Lama torch relay speech

IOC investigates anti-Dalai Lama torch relay speech

By Nick Mulvenney,BEIJING, June 25 (Reuters)

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is investigating a speech made by Tibet's Communist Party boss at the end of last weekend's Beijing torch relay leg in Lhasa in which he denounced the Dalai Lama.

But it was not immediately clear what the IOC, which is largely powerless and has vigorously defended its policy of non-involvement in politics, could do. It has said before it has "no political mandate" to instruct countries how to behave.

IOC communications director Giselle Davies said Beijing organisers (BOCOG) had been asked to provide the contents of Zhang Qingli's speech and said it "would regret very much" if media reports were accurate.

Hardliner Zhang made the comments at a ceremony marking the end of Saturday's two-hour parade of the Olympic flame through the streets of Lhasa, the scene of anti-Chinese riots in March.

"Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it ... we will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique," he said in front of the Potala, the traditional seat of the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Beijing blamed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his followers for the March 14 riots in Lhasa and accused him of scheming to split the Himalayan region from China.

China often rails against the Dalai Lama, but not at Olympic-related events. It has often denounced critics for politicising the Games and the Olympic charter states that no kind of demonstration or political propaganda is permitted "in any Olympic sites or other areas".

The Dalai Lama denied being behind the riots, said he just wanted autonomy and religious freedom in Tibetan areas of the country and has called on his followers to support the Beijing Olympics as well as the torch relay.

The transcript of Zhang's speech on the website of the Tibet Information Office website (info.tibet.cn) omitted the line about the Dalai Lama.

Lhasa's Communist Party boss, Qin Yizhi, also denounced the Dalai Lama at the opening ceremony of the Lhasa leg of the relay on Saturday, saying it would "smash the scheming of the Dalai clique".

Tibet has cast a long shadow over the torch relay, which China hoped would project the image of a modern and vibrant country ahead of the Games.

But the March riots became a focus of anti-Chinese protests and counter-demonstrations on relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco, prompting ugly scenes which alarmed the IOC.

The Vancouver Sun reported on Wednesday that the international leg of the Beijing Paralympic torch relay, scheduled to take in London, Vancouver and Sochi, had been cancelled.

A BOCOG spokesman did not confirm the cancellation but a news conference has been called for 0700 GMT on the "Scale Reduction of Beijing 2008 Paralympic Torch Relay".
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[+/-] : Dalai Lama under fire at Tibet relay

Dalai Lama under fire at Tibet relay

By Geoff Dyer in Beijing,The Financial Times

Chinese officials used the visit of the Olympic torch to the Tibetan capital on Saturday to launch an attack on the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

The torch relay in Lhasa lasted for just over two hours, much shorter than had been planned before the unrest in Tibet in March. It went off without protests along a route lined with a heavy security presence.

"We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique," said Zhang Qingli, Communist party secretary in Tibet, at the end of the event, according to Reuters.

Speaking in front of the Potala Palace, the Dalai Lama's former residence, Mr Zhang said: "Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars [China's flag] will forever flutter high above it."

The government has accused the Dalai Lama and other exiles of inciting the unrest, particularly the riot on March 14 when several Han Chinese were killed. The Dalai Lama has denied the charge. The torch goes next to Qinghai province.

The decision to carry on with the Tibet visithas been criticised by Tibetan exiles and human rights groups, which accuse the government of politicising the torch relay.

"This provocative decision - with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee - could aggravate tensions and undermine the fragile process to find a peaceful long-term solution," said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China.

"The government's insistence on parading the torch through Lhasa can only undermine the respect and trust required for a genuine dialogue with the Dalai Lama."

A small group of foreign reporters, allowed into Tibet to cover the event, said hundreds of paramilitary and other police were positioned along the route. They added that people living nearby were told to stay at home unless they had a special pass to witness the torch.
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[+/-] : Tensions simmering with Olympic torch in Tibet

Relations are still very tense between Chinese officials and Tibetans. (Getty Images: Guang Niu)

Tensions simmering with Olympic torch in Tibet
By China correspondent Stephen McDonell,ABC News on line

Over the weekend the Chinese Government went ahead with its controversial plan to run the Olympic torch relay through Tibet.

Heavy security guaranteed there were no human rights demonstrations. Instead, the relay ended up being a rallying point for local political leaders who vowed to destroy the Dalai Lama, even as they put new touches to some of Lhasa's landmarks.

Though foreigners are still banned from entering Tibet, after the violent rebellion in March a handful of journalists were allowed into Lhasa to cover the torch relay, which had been cut from three days in Tibet to three hours.

We were allowed to witness the relay in the capital Lhasa, along with a small, specially-selected crowd.

Most ordinary people were told to stay off the streets until it was over. Relations are still very tense between Chinese officials and Tibetans.

After the relay we were kept busy with a program full of whirlwind visits to cultural attractions.

When Tibetans restore historic buildings the workers sing and bang and tap in time. This image of happy, working Tibetans in touch with their culture is a side to life that Government authorities are happy for foreign reporters to see.

We visited the Sera Monastery where the recent conflict started in March, after its monks clashed with police on the anniversary of a failed uprising.

There are supposed to be 550 monks living at the Monastery. We saw fewer than 10. Maybe they were confined to their sleeping quarters. There were a lot of police with walkie-talkies and local officials with loud hailers telling us where we should go and to hurry up.

We were eventually presented with a "senior monk" who could talk to us. He said the monks from his monastery had been permitted in recent days to go shopping in town. He was asked what the monks are being taught in the recently introduced re-education classes.

Speaking through a translator he said that the content of the legal knowledge education was to improve the monks' understanding of state law and the constitution so that they "do not violate laws".

He seemed to want to go on to explain himself but we were denied a chance to ask another question.

We were then taken to the Potala Palace the huge former residence of the Dalai Lama.

It was here that the torch relay became a political rally when the head of the Tibetan Communist Party, Zhang Qingli, held up the Olympic torch and then announced "Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it".

Inside the Palace on a hill overlooking the site is a room which used to be the home of China's favourite enemy, the Dalai Lama.

I got to stand in his bedroom, a small, modest space decorated with religious artefacts. Upstairs there was banging as workers carried out restoration.

It is unclear though what he would have thought had he been here to look out his window at the sights and sounds of the Olympic torch arriving to great fanfare, and local Government officials declaring their readiness to crush the "Dalai Lama clique".

What you can see from the room is a city with a heavy police and military presence.

Over the weekend trucks full of riot police were driving up and down and by late Sunday only a smattering of pilgrims had returned to the streets which are normally crowded with visitors to the holy city.

I have been to Tibet several times, and the fear and mistrust here is much worse now than it was before.

The overall sense is of a land under occupation where the occupiers are worried that the locals could turn on them at any time, and they are prepared to use the full force of the state to make sure that that does not happen.
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