By Randall Rasmussen
The Olympic torch relay is becoming an embarrassment to China as demonstrators are lining the relay route in protest of China’s human-rights record in Tibet.
China, which was hoping to use the August Olympics to showcase its economic development, is now finding itself under fire for its Tibet policies.
China annexed Tibet in 1950 and invaded the formerly independent nation in 1959. Countless Tibetans have been killed and hundreds of religious and cultural sites in Tibet have been destroyed.
The Dalai Lama, a revered Tibetan religious leader, is living in exile in India. He preaches nonviolence even as China brands him a dangerous revolutionary.
The campaign against China over Tibet has branched out to highlight other Chinese human-rights causes: China’s support for Sudan and Burma, who are human-rights abusers on par with China; its repression of Christians and the Falun Gong; the jailing of journalists and political dissenters.
The Chinese people, who only know what the government tells them, are insulted by the behavior of protesters.
British, German and French leaders have said they will not attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing, and some Democrats in Congress are urging President Bush to stay home when the games open in August.
The White House says the president will attend the opening ceremony, and Bush says he can do more to further Tibet’s cause by going to Beijing than by staying home. Bush has called on China’s leaders to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
Should Bush go to Beijing or join the boycott?
Bush certainly could help Tibet’s cause by going to Beijing and while there, speak directly to the Chinese people about their country’s treatment of the Tibetan people.
China may have progressed economically, but its policies toward Tibet show that it has done nothing to demonstrate equal progress in its human-right record.
