ROC
VICE PRESIDENT URGES BEIJING
TO STOP 'MILITARY MENACE'
Taipei, July 14 (CNA) Republic of China Vice President Annette Lu
urged the Beijing leaders Saturday "to stop military belligerence
and any hostilities against human rights" now that Beijing has
won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games.
Speaking at the inauguration of the "Taiwan Alliance for Global
Peace," Lu said that Beijing's success in winning the right to
host the games is "an honor to the Chinese people worldwide,"
but expressed her hope that Beijing will use peaceful means to resolve
all kinds of disputes.
The alliance was formed under Lu's urging, with its main mission
to "observe the glorious Olympian traditions of peace, kindness,
justice, respect for human rights, as well as Participate in U.N.－sponsored
world peace and cultural functions and activities in an effort to
achieve world peace and prosperity."
In light of the increasing tension across the Taiwan Strait, the alliance
stated that "all people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait,
for the future of Taiwan as well as China, should join us hand in
hand and step forward together with the world for peaceful co-existence
and mutual respect."
It went on to say that "the world community should appeal to
the Beijing government to embrace the Olympian spirit to maintain
peace in the Taiwan Strait and the world."
In line with the United Nation's activities of the "decade
for the culture of world peace" (2001-2010), the alliance has
decided to sponsor a rally in Taipei on Aug. 15 under the theme "Voice
of Taiwan: Peace and Love."
Representatives from some U.N. non-governmental organizations and
some Nobel Peace laureates will be invited to attend the rally. (By
Victor Lai)
July 14, 2001 Posted: 1:07 PM HKT (0507 GMT)
By staff and wire reports
BEIJING, China -- Beijing has won the right to stage the 2008 Olympic
Games, recording a landslide victory in the face of worldwide concern
on China's human rights record.
The Chinese capital prevailed on the second round of a secret International
Olympic Committee ballot by receiving 56 votes, three more than the
required majority and 34 votes ahead of second-placed Toronto.
As the estimated 200,000 revellers who had converged on Tiananmen
Square awoke to face day one in the lead-up to the Games, reaction
to the decision filtering in from around the world was mixed.
In the winning city, newspaper headlines matched the delirious mood
of the population.
"Smiles Everywhere, Joy Ignites," blazed a headline in
the Beijing Morning Post beneath a picture of a man spraying beer
from a shaken bottle of beer.
"56 Votes -- A Beautiful Win," read another in reference
to the city's comfortable win in the IOC's Moscow vote.
But Taiwan, whose independence China has threatened to quash with
an invasion, greeted the decision very differently.
Optimism
that peace between the two would be almost assured in lead-up to the
Games was tainted by fears the Chinese victory could exacerbate growing
nationalism on the mainland -- further fueling their determination
to take Taiwan back to its fold.
"For the industrial and commercial sector, it's like buying
an insurance policy that (China) will not invade Taiwan for seven
years," the mass circulation United Daily News said.
Tibetans slam choice
In New Delhi, the Dalai Lama's Tibetan government-in-exile slammed
the choice, saying it would encourage repression in China.
As Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama runs a government-in-exile
from the Indian Himalayan foothills town of Dharamsala. He fled Tibet
nine years after Chinese troops marched into their homeland in 1950.
"We
deeply regret that Beijing is awarded the 2008 Olympic Games,"
spokesman for the India-based Central Tibetan Administration Kalon
T.C. Tethong said in a statement.
"This will put the stamp of international approval on Beijing's
human rights abuses and will encourage China to escalate its repression,"
he said.
The
United States urged China to show a "modern" face when it
hosts the Olympic Games in 2008 after it won its bid despite worldwide
concern over its human rights record.
"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," White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
Europe divided
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International, refusing to either welcome
or condemn the decision, urged China to improve its human rights policies.
"Considering the escalation in serious and widespread human
rights violations over the past three years, the Chinese authorities
have a long way to go to demonstrate a healthy and basic respect for
human rights," Amnesty said in a press statement.
In Paris, President Jacques Chirac said he regretted Paris had failed
in its bid -- but he made it clear that France had not given up hope
of staging a future Games.
But there was sharper reaction to the decision.
Francois Loncle, the head of parliament's foreign affairs committee,
saw parallels with the decision to hold the 1936 Olympics in Nazi
Germany.
Beijing was celebrating well into the night Friday following the announcement
"The decision by the IOC goes towards justifying a repressive
political system that each day flouts freedom and violates human rights,"
said Loncle, a member of French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Socialist
party.
"Following the example of Nazi Germany in 1936 and the Soviet
Union in 1980, Communist China will use (the games) as a powerful
propaganda instrument destined to consolidate its hold on power,"
Loncle said in a statement.
In
Germany, Interior Minister Otto Schily said the decision should help
promote democracy in China. "I am convinced that the Olympic
Games will have a positive effect on China's democratic development,"
he said in a statement.
Jiang goes public
Australia, casting an eye to the potential economic benefits of an
Asia Pacific Games, was largely supportive of the Beijing bid,
Having helped orchestrate Sydney's two-vote victory over Beijing
to stage the 2000 Olympics, Australia's IOC vice-president, Mr Kevan
Gosper, said: "The majority of people will regard this as a good
decision. Sometimes that requires some courage and we did that today."
Following the decision, Chinese President Jiang Zemin made an unannounced
appearance and gave the exuberant crowd his "warmest congratulations."
"Comrades! We express our deep thanks to all our friends around
the world and to the IOC for helping to make Beijing successful in
its Olympic bid," Jiang shouted to the crowd.
"I hope the whole nation works hard along with residents of
the capital city to stage successful 2008 Olympic Games. I also welcome
our friends around the world to visit Beijing in 2008."
SATURDAY JULY 14 2001
FROM JOHN GOODBODY AND GILES WHITTELL IN MOSCOW
BEIJING was handed the 2008 Olympic Games yesterday in a landslide
vote that was swiftly condemned as an endorsement of China bleak record
on human rights.
The
vote by the 122-member International Olympic Committee, itself still
reeling from corruption scandals, rejected strong bids from Paris
and Toronto and in the process opened the way for a serious attempt
by London to stage the 2012 summer games.
But the decision puts Beijing on notice that its approach to human
rights will be closely watched over the next seven years. The Tibetan
Government in exile said that the decision was an international stamp
of approval for Beijing violations. Human Rights Watch, the New York-based
watchdog, said that the vote "put a major burden on the IOC and
the Games' corporate sponsors to make the Games a force for change
in China"
IOC leaders have embraced the view that the Games will be a force
for good. They point to the effect on Seoul in the run-up to the 1988
Games and dismiss accusations that changes will be mere window-dressing,
as in Berlin in 1936.
Craig Reedie, the British IOC member, sided firmly with Beijing.
"The Chinese said quite clearly that they wanted the Games to
improve the quality of life of their people and society," he
said. "In seven years we want to be able to say that we have
brought about changes in China. I am confident that we have taken
the right decision."
Had Paris won, a European venue for 2012 would have been highly unlikely.
But yesterday attention immediately swung to what would be the third
Games for London. Three failed British bids in the past decade-- two
from Manchester and one from Birmingham-- have convinced the British
Olympic Committee that London is the only British venue IOC members
would consider seriously. Plans for a new Olympic complex centred
on East London have won the backing of the Mayor Ken Livingstone as
well as British Olympic officials.
The final decision on whether to mount a British bid "is with
the Government at the moment and we are expecting a decision next
year," Mr Reedie said in Moscow yesterday. "Two of the stakeholders
(the British Olympic Committee and the City of London) are quite clear
in their support and now arguably the most important stakeholder,
the Government, is looking at it."
London has staged the Games twice before, in 1908 and 1948, and "is
a long way from agreeing on a bid" for 2012, Mr Reedie cautioned.
"If it gets as far as this part of the process there would have
to be a very high quality presentation. There have been some very
impressive bids for 2008."
Delighted Chinese officials posed for pictures after the vote and
offered assurances that Beijing will work to end human rights abuses.
They also promised unfettered freedom of speech and reporting during
and up to the Games.
尞"Like
all countries there are certain areas where there is something to
be desired," Wuan Wei, the Chinese sports minister, said. "We
hope that the Olympics will open us wider to the outside world and
there will be reforms in a number of areas including health, economics,
social activities, sport and human rights."
China's international critics bitterly attacked the decision, citing
the execution of 1,800 people in the past three months alone, according
to Amnesty International, and the routine suppression of Tibetan independence
activists.
"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.
The US Democratic Congressman Tom Lantos, added: "It truly boggles
the mind that the IOC has awarded the 2008 Olympic Games to Beijing."
In France, after Paris's defeat, Francois Loncle, of the parliamentary
foreign affairs committee, condemned the IOC for helping to justify
"a repressive political system that each day flouts freedom and
violates human rights".
Taiwanese
politicians were quick to congratulate Beijing, but also to use the
occasion to urge China to stop its war games aimed at intimidating
Taipei into joining the mainland. "We hope the Chinese communists
can renounce the use of force in the Taiwan Strait," a government
spokesman said.
The issue was raised only delicately by rival cities in the four
days of IOC meetings leading up to the vote, but before it a German
delegate extracted a promise from Beijing to move the volleyball tournament
from Tiananmen Square, where it was scheduled to take place, if China
won. Hundreds of pro-democracy activists were crushed by armoured
vehicles and gunned down in the square in 1989. With TV rights to
broadcast the Olympics already negotiated until 2012 Beijing is entitled
to an advance payment of some £ 430 million thanks to an IOC
rule that the host city receives half the Games' TV revenues. China
is also expected to pump £7 to £14 billion into bringing
its water, power and communications networks up to scratch.
