International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge met Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) yesterday to discuss preparations for the Beijing Games, which have been overshadowed by protests over China’s human-rights record and disruptions of the torch relay.
“It was a good meeting where a range of games topics were discussed between both parties,” the IOC said in a statement.
The meeting lasted about an hour.
The IOC said Rogge would brief his executive board today and give more details at a news conference tomorrow.
Rogge has refrained from criticizing China, saying he prefers to engage in “silent diplomacy” with the Chinese.
In an interview broadcast yesterday on the VRT television network in his native Belgium, Rogge warned that pushing China too hard on Tibet and human rights would be counterproductive, causing China to “close itself off from the rest of the world, which, don’t forget it, it has done for some 2,000 years,” he said.
The meeting came amid heightened concern over the torch relay, which has been hit by chaotic protests by activists opposed to China’s crackdown in Tibet and other policies.
Meanwhile, the sensitivity of the Tibet issue was underlined when the Association of National Olympic Committees — which oversees the world’s 205 national Olympic bodies — softened a statement that had urged China to resolve the conflict in Tibet.
The group’s original draft on Monday urged China to find “a fair and reasonable solution to the internal conflict that affects the Tibet region.”
The final version changed the wording and dropped “the Tibet region.”
In related news, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd charmed a Chinese audience with his fluent Mandarin yesterday, but also delivered a serious message: there are major human rights problems in Tibet.
He told an audience at the elite Beijing University yesterday that despite the concern over human rights, he was against boycotting the Beijing Olympics over such issues.
“It is necessary to recognize that there are significant human rights problems in Tibet. As a long-standing friend of China, I intend to have a straightforward discussion with China’s leaders on this,” Rudd said.
Stressing his links with China, where he served as a diplomat, Rudd won over the university students and local media, who hailed his language skills.
“We recognize the need for all parties to avoid violence and find a solution,” he said.
In Europe, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said yesterday that he would raise the issue of Tibet during a visit to China later this month.
“I want to show the contradiction that exists between organizing a great event like the Olympic Games and a situation of repression and tensions,” he said in Brussels.
SEE COVERAGE INSIDE
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
A group affiliated with indicted Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) is to be dissolved for monitoring Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, a source said yesterday. Xu, the secretary-general of the Cross-Strait Marriage and Family Service Alliance, was indicted on March 24 on charges of violating the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法). The alliance “illegally monitored" Chinese immigrants living in Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Ministry of the Interior is expected to dissolve the organization in the coming days under provisions of the Civil Associations Act (人民團體法), the source said. Xu, who married a Taiwanese in 1993 and became a Republic
RSS