Jacques Rogge against a “better world”?

The Economist blog “Certain ideas of Europe” describes the China argumentation of IOC boss Jacques Rogge. His defensive approach can be summarised with the following statements: “be reasonable, old chap, what can we do?” and “we don’t do politics but things are much better than you think” combined with some claims about the successes [...]

Breaking news: China to Meet With Representative Of Dalai Lama

Breaking news:
Chinese officials will meet representatives of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism whom China blames for a wave of unrest, Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, citing official sources.
The move marks a change in tactics on the part of Beijing, which has stepped up its vilification of the Dalai Lama since [...]

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© Clay Jones | The Free Lance-Star 2008

Don’t let it happen!

via eurotopics a short excerpt of this article (in french):
Marie-Hélène Miauton, director of the Swiss polling firm MIS Trend, doesn’t believe the threats of an Olympic boycott this summer in Beijing. “The Olympic universe has its own momentum, media rituals that it has to respect to the letter. … It’s in the lead up to [...]

Europe should maybe stop this hypocrisy…

Sabine Verhest writes in Belgian daily La Libre about the problems of Europeans when dealing with China: (via eurotopics)
“While the Tibetans continue demonstrating in Lhassa despite the repression, the Europeans have very courageously taken the step of treating China with kid gloves as much as possible. Meeting in Slovenia [on March 29th] under the presidency [...]

EU and China: The threat of a boycott

John Fox, a Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations calls for a more efficient EU foreign policy that does not rule out any olympic boycott:

EU leaders need to make clear to the Chinese Government that they are prepared to boycott Olympic ceremonies and to consider a broader boycott of the games [...]

I Won’t Watch The Olympics

The blogosphere is full of surprises. The idea of organising some sort of grassroot boycott of the Olympics in Beijing is getting more and more popular. Actually it is quite amazing how many initiatives and opinions are being developed right now. Especially the idea of a private ‘TV boycott’ is spreading rapidly.
“I won’t watch the [...]

Polish PM to boycott Beijing Olympics opening ceremony!

Polish prime minister Donald Tusk has said he would boycott the opening ceremony of the summer Olympics in Beijing. This makes him the first European Head of Government to announce a political boycott!
According to Bloomberg he also wants to convince other European politicians to follow his example! Deputy Foreign Minister Ryszard Schnepf explained this decision [...]

AI: China is getting ready

Amnesty International Campaign:
“In the name of ensuring stability and harmony in the country during the 2008 Olympic Games, the Chinese Government continues to detain and harass political activists, journalists, lawyers and human rights workers. Get involved: www.amnesty.sk”

The debate in the European Parliament

MEPs debated the situation in Tibet with some MEPs calling for a possible boycott of at least the opening ceremony of the forthcoming Olympic Games to be held in China this summer while others said that a boycott would be futile. Many MEPs called for freedom for Tibet and underlined the human rights abuses in [...]