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Sarkozy uses Olympics to pressure China on Tibet
2008-04-05
French President Nicolas Sarkozy stepped up the pressure on China Saturday over its handling of the Tibet crisis by warning he may boycott the Olympic opening, following fresh violence. Sarkozy's warning, delivered by one of his ministers in the Le Monde newspaper, came as International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said he saw "no momentum" for a boycott of the summer Games. Sarkozy will only attend the opening ceremony if China opens dialogue with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and frees political prisoners, French Secretary of State for Human Rights Rama Yade said. China must also end the "violence" against Tibetans, Yade told Le Monde, saying all three conditions were "indispensable" if Sarkozy was to be at the opening ceremony in August 8. The comments were among the sharpest issued by a world leader over China's crackdown in what has become the biggest challenge to its rule of the remote Himalayan region in decades. But IOC chief Rogge insisted he had no regrets about awarding the Olympics to China despite growing concerns about its human rights record. "We do not see a real momentum on boycotts by governments," Rogge said in Singapore, noting that he was however aware of such a discussion taking place. "It is up to the heads of government to decide whether they want to come to Beijing or not. It is not something in which the IOC would intervene," he added. However, the IOC supremo acknowledged an Amnesty International report suggesting China's human rights record was worsening and said it would be discussed at meetings in Beijing next week. Beijing Olympic organisers said Sarkozy's boycott threat was a personal matter that would not affect the staging of the Games. Protests that began on March 10 in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, escalated into rioting and then spread to other areas of western China with Tibetan populations. China says Tibetan rioters have killed 20 people. But Tibet's government in exile Saturday raised to more than 150 the number of its citizens said killed in the Chinese response. "We are afraid that the death toll is more than 150 (Tibetans)," said Samdhong Rinpoche, the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile. "These (figures) are from verifiable sources inside Tibet," he added. China's communist rulers have been deeply angered and embarrassed over the Tibetan unrest, as it has overshadowed preparations for the Olympics and exposed other human rights issues. Tibetans have been protesting over what they say has been widespread repression under nearly six decades of Chinese rule. The jailing of prominent Chinese dissident Hu Jia on Thursday for subversion added to concerns around the world that the human rights situation in China was worsening ahead of the Games. But China showed no signs of backing down on Saturday. The state-run Tibet Daily quoted the region's deputy Communist Party chief as telling a group of influential monks that "reinforcing patriotic education" was now a top priority. The International Campaign for Tibet said the re-education campaign, a tactic long used by the Communist Party, typically involved forcing Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama fled his homeland in 1959 and remains a revered figure for Tibetans, although China believes he is a dangerous figure bent on achieving independence for Tibet. China says he is orchestrating the latest unrest and refuses to hold talks with him. The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner denies fomenting the unrest. Such orders to denounce the Dalai Lama helped trigger Thursday's protest in Garze county of Sichuan province, International Campaign for Tibet spokesman Kate Saunders said. China's official Xinhua news agency reported the incident late Friday, saying police were forced to fire warning shots to quell a "riot" in which protesters attacked a government building and seriously wounded one official. Xinhua did not give other key details in its brief dispatch, such as how many "rioters" were involved or why they had marched on the government office. The International Campaign for Tibet, the Free Tibet Campaign and Radio Free Asia reported that police had fired directly into the protesters, killing at least eight. Calls by AFP to local government offices, hospitals and religious bureaus went unanswered or were met with denials of knowing anything about the incident.
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