The Starting Line: China Denies I.O.C. Criticism After Official’s Tibet Remarks

Beijing, 6/26/08 - New York Times (JEFF Z. KLEIN) - After months charging that others were injecting politics into the Olympics, China on Thursday found itself denying an International Olympic Committee accusation that it had politicized the Games. The incident in question occurred Saturday during the controversial Lhasa leg of the Olympic torch relay, when Zhang Qinglin, the Communist Party leader of Tibet, said: “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.”

That remark prompted the I.O.C. to send a rare letter of reprimand to the Beijing Games organizing committee, known as Bocog. In response, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry told The Associated Press on Thursday that Zhang’s remarks did not represent politicization but instead were meant to encourage a “stable and harmonious environment for the Olympics.”

http://olympics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/the-starting-line-china-denies-ioc-criticism-after-officials-tibet-remarks/?hp

Olympic flame reaches Lhasa but Tibetans are kept in dark

Beijing, 6/23/08 - Times UK (Jane Macartney) - Armed troops patrol the streets of Lhasa and Tibetan monks and Buddhist pilgrims have virtually disappeared from the sacred prayer path that surrounds Tibet's holiest temple in the heart of the capital. There is no sign that China is ready yet to loosen the security clampdown imposed after Tibetans rioted in the streets more than three months ago.

Instead, the army patrols and identity checks were stepped up last week as the Himalayan city prepared for its brief moment as host of the Olympic torch on its relay through China. The passage of the flame, curtailed from three days to only one, went off without incident and virtually without an audience at the weekend.

The authorities ordered everyone in the city, even tourists, to stay inside with their windows closed until midday on Saturday when the torch relay ended. Thousands of troops were out in force, standing a mere five metres apart on many roads, to ensure that the curfew was obeyed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4193065.ece

IOC in fear of Beijing crackdown

, 7/6/08 - Paul Kelso (The Guardian) - The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic games is just 62 days away, and across the Chinese capital clocks count the days. Among International Olympic Committee executives and members gathered in Athens this week they are counting the hours to a different landmark: "Everyone is counting the days to the opening ceremony," said one senior figure. "Me? I'm looking forward to reaching the closing ceremony on August 24 and getting on the plane home."

Publicly the IOC expresses complete confidence in China's preparations, but behind the optimism lie deep anxieties about the most politically-charged and culturally challenging games in Olympic history.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/06/07/ioc_in_fear_of_beijing_crackdo.html

With Olympics Approaching, US Reconsiders Sonic Blasters for China

, 6/6/08 - Daniel Pepper (Spiegel) - With the Olympics fast approaching, the US is suddenly concerned about American-made products being used against human rights demonstrators. Of particular concern is a sonic blaster that so far has not been considered a weapon.

The LRAD can do serious damage to one's eardrums. But is it a weapon? A nightmare scenario for the US that could play out on the streets of Beijing during the Olympic Games this August looks something like this: Masses of pro-democracy protesters gather to demonstrate against Beijing's disregard for human rights in Tibet. To break up the crowd, the Chinese, for once, do not charge in with rolling tanks or swinging bayonets. Instead, they turn on their Long Range Acoustic Devices and blast the crowds with ear-splitting noise, sending the crowd into a panic. A tag on the side of the devices reads: "Made in USA."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,558205,00.html

Tibetan Sichuan Undercover

HONG KONG, 5/6/08 - Radio Free Asia—Deep in Tibetan Kardze, in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, Chinese authorities continually remove images of Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, from display in a monastery. But the monks, despite a massive Chinese security presence, just keep replacing them.

“Things are really very tough for Tibetans at the moment,” one lama told an undercover journalist who traveled to the region in April, just weeks after a deadly crackdown on anti-Chinese protests that began in Lhasa and spread to neighboring Sichuan, Qinghai, and Gansu provinces. “We are not free, and it was inevitable that there would be a backlash.”

Beijing, he said, “has changed a lot of things in the lives of Tibetans—our cultural activities, the way we live our lives, the economy. It's as if they want to change who we are completely.”

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/video-05062008120713.html

Olympic Games Protests Hit Athens

Athens, 4/6/08 - (AP) - A small group of pro-Tibetan activists have staged a peaceful protest outside an Athens hotel hosting a meeting of top IOC officials. The seven protesters shouted slogans urging the International Olympic Committee to cancel next week's Tibetan leg of the torch relay for the Beijing Olympics. The protesters pressed China to allow foreign media access to Tibet.[...]

"The IOC must cancel the Tibetan leg of the Olympic torch relay now," said Han Shan, a spokesman for the Students for a Free Tibet group. "Every moment the IOC waits before taking the right decision is a moment at which Tibetan lives are placed at risk."

http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1062226

Foreigners told to behave at Beijing Olympics - or else

Beijing, 2/6/08 - (AP) -Foreigners attending the Beijing Olympics better behave - or else.

The Beijing Olympic organizing committee issued a stern, nine-page document - covering 57 topics - on Monday. Written only in Chinese and posted of the organizers' official Web site, the guide covers everything from a ban on sleeping outdoors to the need for government permission to stage a protest.

The document, not immediately available in English, also said having Olympic tickets is no guarantee of getting a visa to enter China. [...] Fearing protests during the Aug. 8-24 Olympics, China's authoritarian government has tightened controls on visas and residence permits for foreigners. It has also promised a massive security presence at the games, which may include undercover agents dressed as volunteers.

The government is hoping to keep out activists and students who might stage pro-Tibet rallies that would be broadcast around the world. It also fears protests over China's oil and arms trade with Sudan, and any disquiet from predominantly Muslim regions in western China.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/olympics/wires/06/02/2080.ap.as.spt.oly.china.foreigners.behave.0795

Despite strains, sponsors look for Olympic boost

Beijing, 1/6/08 - JOE McDONALD (AP) — As protests flared along the Olympic torch route, games sponsor BHP Billiton Ltd. set up a very different clash of its own: A basketball game against one of the Australian miner's key Chinese customers.

The match was part of a family day with 800 children of Maanshan Iron & Steel Co. employees, one of a series of Olympic-themed BHP events meant to nurture ties with Chinese customers and officials.

"This country is critical to our business," said Karen Wood, a BHP Billiton group executive. As for activism over China's rule in Tibet and other issues, she said, "It certainly hasn't changed our expectation of what we're going to get out of the games."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gS6zvajUkcMPoMU5yNOUxPn2LZ3AD91180C00