US President George W. Bush has said he will not use the
Olympics as an opportunity to criticize China, nor will he change
his plan to attend the Games in Beijing this summer.
In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Bush said: "I'm going
to the Olympics. I view the Olympics as a sporting event."
On Wednesday, movie director Steven Spielberg resigned as
artistic advisor to the Beijing Olympics, citing concerns over the
humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which he linked to China.
Bush said in the interview that what Spielberg did was "up to
him".
"I'm not gonna go and use the Olympics as an opportunity to
express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way," Bush
said, adding that he has "a little different platform" to Spielberg
to communicate with Chinese leaders.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Thursday
that it is unacceptable to boycott the Olympics for political
purposes and empty rhetoric will not help relieve the Darfur
crisis.
Despite recent clamors linking Darfur to the Beijing Olympics,
some Western leaders have explicitly expressed opposition to
politicizing the Games.
London-based newspaper The Independent published a correction on
Friday clarifying that International Olympic Committee (IOC)
President Jacques Rogge did not sign a letter by Nobel laureates
encouraging a boycott of the games. He was in fact the intended
recipient.
British Olympic Minister Tessa Jowell also said the call for a
boycott "would be counter-productive", according to The
Times newspaper.
"The world has known for the last seven years that Beijing would
host the Olympics," Jowell said. "A call for a boycott doesn't
serve any purpose and it would be a great pity."
The paper also quoted Sir Craig Reedie, Britain's IOC member, as
saying: "Darfur is a civil war but the IOC is a sports organization
and its contract is with the host city. It does not become involved
in politics of the host nation. Politics will not affect the
organization of the Games."
Using the Olympics to pressure China is obviously not the
mainstream opinion of the world, Shi Yinhong, professor of
international relations at the Renmin University of China,
said.
"Bush's words show he does not want Sino-US ties to be disturbed
by such issues.
"Obviously, the Bush administration understands China's
contribution to resolving the Darfur problem," Shi said.
(China Daily February 16, 2008)