Apr
8
Hillary urges Bush to boycott Beijing Olympics
April 8, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
by Jojo
US Presidential Candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton on April 7th urged Bush not to come to see Beijing Olympics, and to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies this summer unless China improves human rights, after her opponent Obama said not to boycott Beijing Olympics a few days ago.
Hillary in a statement cited violent clashes in Tibet and the lack of pressure by China on Sudan to stop “the genocide in Darfur.”
“At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government,” She said.
Bush plans to attend the Summer Olympics ceremonies in Beijing in August and so far has resisted pressure to change his plans in response to a violent crackdown against protesters in Tibet by Chinese authorities.
Hillary Clinton even has gone a step further than U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California who last week urged Bush to keep the option of boycotting the ceremonies on the table.
“I encourage the Chinese to take advantage of this moment as an opportunity to live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity, ideals that the Olympic games have come to represent,” Clinton said.
But White House insists on Bush attending Olympics.
“I think our views on this have been very clear and the president’s views on this have been very clear,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
“The Olympics will take place, and we expect the Olympic — American qualifying Olympic athletes to participate in those games,” he said.
He also said the Bush administration expects American athletes to participate in the Olympics.
