Latest News

"And here's a prediction: In the run-up to the 2012 Games, Londoners will complain about the traffic; politicians will carp about the cost; critics will call the ceremonies tasteless; no one will use the phrase "Olympic triumph." But there won't be arrests or police intimidation, there won't be forced expropriation of property, there won't be stony-faced acrobats marching in formation -- and in the end, the whole thing will be a lot less sinister, a lot less damaging and a lot more fun." Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post, Aug. 26, 2008.

"Stellar as was the stage show, the back story wouldn't go away. Despite the promises, and in the face of repeated cajoling from the International Olympic Committee, the Communist bosses did as they pleased with internal laws and external relations. And most of its people accept the reality.

"The idea that the Olympics would be transformative, now or in the future, was illusory. The International Olympic Committee was made to look foolish.

"The most embarrassing development was the creation of protest "pens," public places where grievances against the government or Olympics could be demonstrated. Intended as a cheap ploy to mollify the West, the pens became worse -- bait to lure complainers to their arrests.

No amount of giant drums and electrified acrobats could cover for that cynicism." Art Thiel, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 24, 2008

"To win the right to host these Games, China promised to honor the Olympic ideals of nonviolence, openness to the world and individual expression. Those promises were systematically broken, starting with this spring’s brutal repression in Tibet and continuing on to the ugly farce of inviting its citizens to apply for legal protest permits and then arresting them if they actually tried to do so.

"Along the way, government critics were pre-emptively rounded up and jailed, domestic news outlets tightly controlled, foreign journalists denied full access to the Internet and thousands of Beijing’s least telegenic residents were evicted from their homes and out of camera range. On Friday, the Chinese police confirmed that six Americans protesting China’s rule in Tibet had been sentenced to 10 days of detention...The medal count and DVD sales cannot be the last word on the Beijing Games." NY Times editorial, August 23,2008

Two women in their late 70s were sentenced recently to a year in a labor camp for applying to hold a legal protest in a designated area in Beijing, where officials promised that Chinese could hold demonstrations during the Olympic Games. Their grievance was receiving insufficient compensation when their homes were seized for redevelopment.

US President George W Bush has expressed "deep concerns" over China's human rights record in a speech on the eve of the Beijing Olympics. "The US believes the people of China deserve the fundamental liberty that is the natural right of all human beings," he said in the Thai capital, Bangkok. He praised China's economy but said only respect for human rights would let it realise its full potential.

Four activists from Britain and the U.S. were arrested after unfurling banners close to the Olympic stadium. The protesters from Students for a Free Tibet scaled a 120ft lighting pole early in the morning and unfurled banners reading "One World One Dream Free Tibet" and "Tibet will be free".

China was so fearful of terrorist attack during the Games that it was ready to use surface-to-air missiles, says the NY Times. Surveillance cameras were everywhere scanning sidewalks, and police officers searched thousands of cars and trucks entering the city. Thousands of middle-age and elderly residents wearing red armbands, reminiscent of the zealous Red Guard youth from decades ago, patrolled neighborhoods looking for the slightest offence.

Sixteen Chinese policemen were killed in an August 3 attack on a border post in the restive Muslim region of Xinjiang, state media say. Two attackers reportedly drove up to the post in a rubbish truck and threw two grenades, before moving in to attack the policemen with knives.

IOC president Jacques Rogge told reporters that Beijing's air quality poses no risk to athletes' health. But a day before the Games, a BBC reading suggested Beijing's air quality was far below World Health Organisation (WHO) standards. Pollution in Beijing continues to exceed safe levels much of the time, although conditions have improved. It put levels of particulate matter (PM10) at 191 micrograms per cubic metre. This far exceeds the WHO target of 50 micrograms/cubic metre, and also exceeds the WHO target for developing countries of 150 micrograms/cubic metre.

A total of 104 "national government dignitaries" from around the world will attend the games, Chinese organizing committee chief Liu Qi said Tuesday. He did not specify whether that meant heads of state or whether all would attend the opening ceremony. Western diplomats in Beijing believe more than 100 foreign leaders were asked and 80 or so are believed to be coming.

Although the Chinese government is allowing formerly blocked sites such as Amnesty International and the Chinese BBC, hundreds if not thousands of websites remained unavailable to both journalists and Beijing residents, according to the LA Times. The barred sites include "so-called sensitive sites relating to the Falun Gong movement, Tibet or Tiananmen Square...but also news portals like the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Huffington Post."

Reporters at Beijing's Olympic Press Center have finally been allowed to access scores of web pages that had been barred to them. Some of these sites concerned the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and Tibetan issues. Amnesty International's websites and the BBC's Chinese-language site had also been blocked.

The Chinese government recently denied a 2004 bronze medallist a visa to travel to Beijing to participate in the Olympics. Californian Kendra Zanotto was not given an explanation, but she believes it was because of her affiliation with Team Darfur, an athlete-driven group that seeks to call attention to the crisis in western Sudan. Ironically, she opposed a boycott.

Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek has had his visa for the Beijing Olympic Games revoked. Cheek, who won the 500-metre speedskating gold in 2006 and is a former world sprint champion, founded Team Darfur, a group of athletes, including 72 current Olympians, to draw attention to China's support of Sudan and the human rights abuses and humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Darfur region. Former university water polo player Brad Greiner, had also had his visa revoked.

The architect of Beijing's spectacular new "Bird's Nest" stadium has spoken out against China's Olympic security operation. He says it makes the country look like a police state. As a result China is squandering international goodwill. Ai Weiwei advocates political reform and refuses to attend the opening ceremony.

Rabbis Haskel Lookstein and Irving "Yitz" Greenberg have initiated a petition urging Jews to boycott the Olympics in China. "Having endured the bitter experience of abandonment by our presumed allies during the Holocaust," the boycott petition states, "we feel a particular obligation to speak out against injustice and persecution today." Nearly 200 rabbis from all the major denominations signed the statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives adopted a resolution by 419-to-1 calling on Beijing to stop abusing citizens' rights and to end its support of governments in Sudan and Burma. It called on Beijing to create "an atmosphere that honours the Olympic traditions of freedom and openness." Earlier, a U.S. Congressional committee unanimously approved a resolution calling on China to end its policy of forcing women who violatE its one-child family planning program to have abortions. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao lashed out at what he called "odius conduct" of anti-China lawmakers.