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Belgium's Reynders says Beijing boycott cannot be ruled out

The Belgian government said yesterday that it did not rule out the possibility of a boycott of the Beijing Olympics if the situation in Tibet worsened.

Vice Premier Didier Reynders told Le Soir newspaper yesterday that staying away from China "is not an option that we reserve today. But we can never exclude the worst."

His comments came a day after French President Nicolas Sarkozy suggested he could boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

The sports minister of the northern Belgian region Flanders said he would not attend the opening ceremony in Beijing, as it could be used for propaganda purposes.

CASUALTIES

Recent unrest in Tibet has killed at least 22 people. The uprising was the broadest and most sustained against Chinese rule of the region in almost two decades.

It was against this backdrop that the Belgian government was holding out the possibility of a boycott.

"The government remains very attentive [as to] how the situation develops," Reynders said.

As things stood though, he stuck to the government line: "A boycott is not a good solution."

Bert Anciaux, the sports minister of the regional government of Flanders said he would not go to the opening ceremony.

"If public opinion wants to give a signal about human rights violations and cultural rights, then the use of the opening ceremony is not bad," Anciaux said, adding he would "not try to be part of the Chinese propaganda machine."

ROGGE

Anciaux called on International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who is also Belgian, to respond to the Tibetan crisis.

"It is high time that the IOC proves that granting the games was not a blank check," he wrote on his Web site. "Now the IOC has to speak and say what it expects. To be silent now is to be complicit in the terror against Tibet and thousands of dissidents."

European governments had largely rejected any snub of the Olympics for political reasons.

Last week, EU nations and Olympic committees opposed a boycott of the Beijing Games over the Tibet protests.

The EU sports ministers and Olympic committees said sports should not be linked to political issues.

"A boycott will only destroy the dreams of thousands of athletes," Anciaux said.
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