China snubs IOC call on rights record
　

CONCERN: A group of UN rights experts also called for restraint while urging Beijing to allow unfettered access to Tibet by journalists and independent observers

AGENCIES, BEIJING AND GENEVA
Friday, Apr 11, 2008, Page 4

I believe IOC officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors.－Jiang Yu, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman

China urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) yesterday to keep “irrelevant political factors” away from the Beijing Games, after IOC president Jacques Rogge called on it to improve human rights.

“I believe IOC officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) told reporters. “I hope IOC officials continue to adhere to principles of the Olympic charter.”

Jiang was responding to comments by Rogge earlier in the day in which he urged China to respect its commitment to improve human rights ahead of the Beijing Games.

Rogge emphasized that Chinese officials had promised when they made their bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics that being awarded the Games would “advance the social agenda of China, including human rights.”

“This is what I would call a moral engagement rather than a juridical [legal] one,” he told a press conference. “We definitely ask China to respect this moral engagement.”

In a separate address, Rogge also said a week of protests targeting the Olympic torch relay by groups critical of China’s human-rights record had thrown the Beijing Games into “crisis.”

Rogge told heads of 205 National Olympic Committees at the end of their three-day general assembly here to return to their own countries to reassure athletes that the Beijing Games would be a success.

“Tell them that whatever they have seen and heard, the Games will be very well-organized,” he said. “Tell them that we will rebound from this current crisis.”

Jiang gave a non-committal response to Rogge’s crisis comment.

“Maybe he said some remarks that were ... exaggerated or distorted by certain people,” she said.

Meanwhile, a group of UN rights experts expressed concern yesterday at China’s crackdown in Tibet and called for journalists and independent observers to be given full access to the region.

The experts “urge restraint and non-violence by all parties, greater and unfettered access to the regions concerned for journalists and independent observers, and full implementation of international standards in regard to the treatment of protesters,” they said in a statement.

In related news, a US-based Tibetan rights group said that China would not reopen the restive mountain region of Tibet to foreigners until after the August Olympics, scrapping plans to try to let tourists back in early next month.

China’s National Tourism Administration as well as the Tibet government and tourism authority had no immediate comment.

A decision to delay the reopening might indicate that Beijing was still worried that Tibet was unstable and would remain so for months after a series of protests and a riot in Lhasa on March 14 rocked the region and neighboring areas.

Normally, travel to Tibet is restricted. Foreigners must obtain special permits and travel in tour groups to visit, and foreign reporters living in China are not allowed into the Himalayan region without special permission.

After the outburst of violence in Lhasa, the government stopped issuing permits, citing safety concerns. State media said Tibet would be reopened to foreign travelers from May 1.

“But according to reliable reports it seems that reopening may now not be until after the Olympics,” the International Campaign for Tibet said in a statement.

Dalai Lama rejects call for Tibet supporters to shut up

AP, NARITA, JAPAN
Friday, Apr 11, 2008, Page 4

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said yesterday he supported China’s hosting of the Summer Olympics, but insisted that nobody had the right to tell protesters demanding freedom for Tibet “to shut up.”

“We are not anti-Chinese. Right from the beginning, we supported the Olympic Games,” he told reporters outside Tokyo on a stopover on a trip to Seattle. “I really feel very sad the government demonizes me. I am just a human, I am not a demon.”

He said that if the situation improves, he would even be willing to attend the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

“If things improve and the Chinese government starts to see things realistically, I personally want to enjoy the big ceremony,” he said.

Protests have been held in cities around the world in a show of sympathy for Tibet, where anti-government riots erupted last month.

San Francisco

The Olympic torch relay has faced massive demonstrations, most recently in San Francisco.

The Dalai Lama said the demonstrators had the right to their opinions, though he called for nonviolence.

“The expression of their feelings is up to them,” he said. “Nobody has the right to tell them to shut up. One of the problems in Tibet is that there is no freedom of speech.”

“Autonomy [in Tibet] is just in name, it is not sincerely implemented. The crisis is the expression of their [Tibetans’] deep regret,” he said.

The Japanese government has been relatively quiet about the violence in Tibet and, out of deference to Beijing, does not deal officially with the Dalai Lama.

Tokyo does, however, grant visas to the exiled Buddhist leader, who has visited Japan fairly frequently. No meetings were planned between the Dalai Lama and government officials although the wife of former prime minister Shinzo Abe greeted him on his stopover en route from India.

He is to spend two weeks in the US.

More than a dozen Buddhist monks protested on Wednesday in front of visiting journalists at a monastery in western China to call for the return of the exiled Tibetan leader.

The monks, whose numbers grew to about two dozen during the 10-minute incident, shouted slogans in Tibetan in an outer courtyard as journalists entered a prayer hall at the Labrang monastery in western Gansu Province bordering Tibet.

allegation

The incident followed a similar interruption during a closely scripted government media tour of Tibet’s capital of Lhasa two weeks ago to view damage from the anti-government riots that erupted there last month.

The Dalai Lama said he is not behind the unrest and called Chinese claims that he is the mastermind “a serious allegation.”

“”Some in the leadership consider Tibetan Buddhism is a source of separatism,” he said, adding that Beijing had reacted to the protests with “violent suppression.”

What to expect of the US and China
　

By Stephen Yates
Friday, Apr 11, 2008, Page 8

President-elect Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) convincing victory and the simultaneous defeat of the UN referendums on March 22 clearly was the outcome a majority of Taiwanese voters sought, but also the result preferred by Beijing and Washington.

A giant sigh of relief came quickly from Washington in the form of a congratulatory message enthusiastically welcoming the opportunity for a fresh start in US-Taiwan relations. However Washington’s enthusiasm did not extend to prompt welcoming of the president-elect’s proposed visit prior to inauguration day — after which Washington’s symbolic restrictions will prohibit a “visit” to the US.

Beijing’s reaction came across more as satisfaction than exuberance, gloating over the perceived disapproval of President Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) agenda but simultaneously warning the world to watch out for tricks yet to be played before he leaves office.

Following the election, expectations in Taiwan and the US have been quite high that improvements in cross-strait relations are imminent and that an ease in tensions should translate into economic and security benefits for Taiwan. Beijing has conspicuously talked down expectations for the pace and scope of the upcoming agenda. Symbolic meetings and progress in functional areas may be the extent of Beijing’s interest for some time.

Some of what Ma proposed seemed reasonable and pragmatic. His cross-strait strategy, described as “small steps at a quick pace,” placed priority on strength at home and in relations with the US as a precondition for engaging Beijing, and declared discussion of Taiwan’s future status to be off the agenda during his time in office.

But some of what he proposed was quite bold, perhaps more than Beijing cares to entertain for the time being. The idea of a peace agreement and moving toward a common market has been met with rhetorical welcome but operational caution in Beijing. A sampling of this caution was shared by a Chinese academic who opined: “How can the military sustain its budget if a peace agreement is reached, and yet Taiwan could return to its previous ways in four or eight years?”

There is also the challenge of envisioning how a common market approach can be negotiated and implemented via any channel other than government-to-government, something Beijing has opposed.

What then is reasonable for the people of Taiwan to expect from the US and China as the Ma administration begins? Mostly small gestures that welcome the change in tone from Taipei, but do little to change the status quo in terms of interaction with Taiwan.

A new Straits Exchange Foundation chairman will be appointed as the Ma administration takes office. The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits also needs a new chairman, to fill the vacancy left with the passing of Wang Daohan (汪道涵). With those formalities in place, a symbolic meeting of the two chairman should be scheduled perhaps before the Beijing Olympics, but the agenda likely would be limited to perceived “low hanging fruit” at best — direct flights, pandas, etc. Gradually the functional agenda could expand, even allowing visits of Cabinet-level officials representing portfolios unrelated to sovereignty, such as transportation.

So far there is no evidence that officials in Beijing or Washington are entertaining meaningful changes to treatment of Taiwan in international settings. Beijing has not agreed to a “ceasefire” in efforts to take Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies and has not defined what international space (if any) it will support for Taiwanese representatives. And Washington has not linked its relief with Ma’s victory to forthcoming relaxation of symbolic restrictions placed on interaction with Taiwanese officials (in the US and internationally).

For example, where is the international space that the US will now pro-actively advocate for Taiwan even if Beijing continues to object? Hard to imagine anything in the near-term, with so many other equities at stake with Beijing that the US is likely to see as more important.

Economic relations with China and the US are the area of greatest promise in terms of expanded interaction, although it is unclear what if any improvement it will lead to in Taiwan’s economic performance. Loosening restrictions on cross-strait investment, trade, transportation and tourism will clearly increase activity. Actual progress towards establishing a common market would do even more.

Similarly economic interaction with the US could expand if the US agrees to simultaneously open negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement. But would deeper economic integration with either China or the US necessarily lead to more rapid GDP growth, lower unemployment, greater international competitiveness or higher consumer confidence?

For outside observers it is hard to assess how important near-term progress is to the fate of the Ma administration.

Some suggest that a moment of strategic opportunity may be lost if Beijing and Taipei fail to get off to a quick and productive start. Others say that all Ma needs to accomplish is effectively hitting the cross-strait ball back into Beijing’s court, with Taipei no longer seen as creating tension or unreasonably standing in the way of progress.

Whether the bold or more limited vision is correct, voters in Taiwan have four years to assess the value of the president-elect’s new agenda. All who share a stake in Taiwan’s continued success should wish him well.

Stephen Yates is president of DC Asia Advisory, a consultancy in Washington, and former deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney for national security affairs.