BOYCOTT
In her daily press briefing on Thursday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino dodged a question about whether the US should consider boycotting the Beijing Olympics next summer to punish Beijing for supporting the Myanmar junta.
Bush has said that next year's Olympic Games would be a time "when the world is watching," Perino said.
China is "excited about the Olympics, but this is a time when, as [Bush] said to [Chinese] President Hu [Jintao] (胡錦濤), the world is going to be watching ... This would be one of them," Perino said.
On Wednesday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee added to the pressure on Bush, unanimously approving a resolution calling on China and other allies of Myanmar to use their influence to get the junta to release freedom activist Aung San Suu Kyi.
`RECONCILIATION'
The committee also called for an end to attacks on minorities and for the beginning of "a meaningful process of genuine national reconciliation."
This was part of a broader resolution that urged the Bush administration to push for national reconciliation in Myanmar and for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Later in the day on Wednesday, US Democratic Senator John Kerry called on the Bush administration to "engage in strenuous diplomacy with Beijing, which carries the most sway with Burma's generals, and urge the Chinese to press for reform."
Referring to the upcoming Olympics in a speech on the Senate floor, Kerry said: "Beijing can host the 2008 Olympics as an enabler of cruelty and repression, or it can do so as a responsible stakeholder in the world community."
Also see stories:
Editorial: China is accountable for Myanmar
International community must act in Burma
RSS