Olympic outcry

The International Olympic Committee announced July 13 that the 2008 Olympic Games would be held in Beijing. Thousands gathered as Tiananmen Square erupted into celebration following the announcement, which the Chinese government views as an international endorsement of recent reforms. But human rights groups still contend that China has a long way to go on the issue of human rights reform and are unsure whether or not China can uphold the principles of the Olympic Charter.\n"Considering the escalation in serious and widespread human rights violations over the past three years, the Chinese authorities have a long way to go to demonstrate a healthy and basic respect for human rights," Amnesty International said in a press release. "The Chinese government must prove it is worthy of staging the Games by upholding the Olympic spirit of 'fair play' and extending 'respect for universal, fundamental, ethical principles' to the people of China."\nAmnesty International, a steadfast opponent of the death penalty, claims that more than 1,700 people have been executed since April as a part of China's "Strike Hard" campaign against crime -- more than the entire rest of the world has executed in the past three years. The group said in many of these cases a fair trial was denied, noting that lawyers have been pressured not to offer a plea of "not guilty" and that some confessions might have been the result of torture. In a July 6 press release, the group intimated that as a result of the "Strike Hard" campaign, which aims to dramatically shorten the judicial process, many people may have been wrongly convicted.\n"Curtailed procedures plus great pressure on police and judicial authorities mean that the potential for miscarriages of justice, arbitrary sentencing and the execution of innocent people is immense." Amnesty International said, ironically, many of those sentenced to death were sent to sports stadiums for public humiliation before having their sentences carried out.\nTibetans protest Beijing Olympic bid\nTibetans and supporters of a free Tibet worldwide are voicing their disapproval of the IOC's decision to award Beijing the Olympics.\n"We are outraged that the IOC has chosen to overlook the systematic destruction of Tibetan culture and human rights abuses committed by the Chinese government," said Lhadon Tethong of Students for a Free Tibet in a July 13 press release.\nAccording to the release, in the six months leading up to the IOC decision, Tibetan freedom supporters sent 250,000 postcards, letters, e-mails, faxes and petitions to the IOC opposing Beijing's bid for the 2008 Olympics. \nFalun Gong Practitioners Protest\nPractitioners of Falun Gong, a lifestyle rooted in special exercises and meditations which has been banned in China since July 1999, are hoping that the IOC's decision to hold the 2008 Olympics in Beijing will bring attention to their plight. The group claims that more than 250 members have died in custody since the ban was issued, a number that Amnesty International corroborates. In a July 13 media advisory, practitioners sought assistance from abroad.\n"Our concern has been and continues to be the welfare of the Falun Gong practitioners in China who are being brutally persecuted for their faith," the advisory read. "We are sending out an urgent SOS to the international community to help secure their safe release from labor camps and prisons all across China. The ban on Falun Gong that began almost two years ago on July 20, 1999 must be lifted before more innocent lives are lost."\n"We hope that China will not see winning the Olympics as a license to kill," said Falun Gong spokesperson Erping Zhang. "In just the past week, we have had two reports of mass killings of Falun Gong practitioners in Chinese labor camps. We do not want to see more."\nTaiwanese Hold Doubts\nIn Taiwan, there is optimism that the IOC's decision might delay a war with China, but some believe that China must continue to improve human rights. \nTaiwanese student Pei Chi Chung is wary that the decision will not result in any appreciable changes to the state of human rights in China. \n"I hold a doubt on the degree of freedom that will actually be granted to normal people in China from now to 2008. Seven years later, can visitors to the Beijing city wave their Taiwan or Tibetan flags just like they usually do when they are in Taiwanese, American and many other democratic societies?" said Chung.\nTaiwanese and critics around the world are concerned that while China might be constructing a beautiful facade, the reality of the situation could be much different. Chung believes this might be occurring in Shanghai. \n"I have heard so many real life stories from relatives who hold business in China on how the PRC (People's Republic of China) government uses state power to change the city landscape of Shanghai. Thousands of trees can be planted in a short time just to improve the city view of Shanghai as the city is hosting the meeting of WTO. As for areas that foreigners won't have a chance to visit to, it's 'dirty, awkward, and disastrous,' according to my aunt." \nChinese Students Applaud IOC Decision\nLike those who reveled in the streets of Beijing on the night of the announcement, Chinese students here at IU, many of whom are weary of the media attacks on China's human rights record, are celebrating the IOC's decision.\n"It is a very positive and correct decision in which I see a chance that helps China develop and improve their human rights situation," said Hanwei Tan, president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association.\nIU student Brandon Chemers Cheng Boran, who is living in Beijing and described the celebration in Millennium Square as one of the happiest experiences of his life, said Beijing deserved to win the Olympics.\n"Beijing's 2008 bid deserved to win because any mistakes with the 2000 bid have been improved upon. The human rights situation is growing better and better year by year -- (though) there is still the problem of Americans seeing human rights as something different from other people, especially those in Third World countries -- the environmental conditions are better, and overall the city and people are more mature and more ready for such a major event."\nChinese student Wei Wang dismissed much of the criticism as media propaganda.\n"The reason that most American people believe that mainland Chinese people don't have human rights can be tracked to the media," Wang said.\nBush Administration Neutral\nWhile some members of Congress have expressed discontent with the decision, the Bush Administration has remained neutral on the issue.\nWhite House spokesman Ari Fleischer released the following statement: "The president believes that the Olympics are a sporting event, not a political event. But having said that, this now is an opportunity for China to showcase itself as a modern nation." \nIOC executive director Francois Carrard said the committee hopes China will take action to improve the human rights situation in the next seven years.\nBeijing prevailed in the second round of voting by receiving 56 votes, soundly defeating runners-up Toronto, Paris and Istanbul. This will be the first time China, which comprises nearly one quarter of the world's population, hosts the Olympic Games.