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It’s Okay To Turn Your Backs: Rudd Supports Torch Protest |
10 April 2008Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has supported the right of Australians to turn their backs on the Olympic torch relay in Canberra to make a silent protest over China's crackdown on Tibet.
And in a speech in Mandarin yesterday to students at Peking University on the first day of his visit to China, Mr Rudd repeated a blunt warning to China about significant human rights abuses in Tibet.
This was despite the Chinese government earlier yesterday delivering diplomatic protests over similar remarks he made in Washington last week calling on China to talk to the Dalai Lama.
Asked about people turning their backs on the Olympic flame in Canberra, Mr Rudd pointedly said Australia was a free country.
"It's a robust democracy ... people can express their point of view in whichever way they want and that's what's good," he said.
"It's important that we provide the physical security and we're going to do that, treat these matters respectfully but we live in a free country, people can express their point of view in any manner they choose."
Yesterday, Australian swimming great Dawn Fraser added her support to those protesting against the torch relay, saying she would boycott the Beijing Games because she was against China's treatment of Tibetans.
Thousands of activists were poised to take to the streets in San Francisco for the US leg of the torch's global tour, two days after protests in Paris forced organisers to cut short the relay. It followed similarly rowdy protests in London on Sunday, where police arrested dozens of demonstrators.
Yesterday, during a candlelight vigil attended by nearly 2000 people in downtown San Francisco, Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on world leaders to skip the Olympic Games.
In Canberra, torch relay organisers are going over "every metre" of the event amid growing concern that runners will be overshadowed by an influx of interstate demonstrators.
Taskforce chairman Ted Quinlan said last night barricades were now certain to be erected along most of the 20km route through central Canberra and the Parliamentary triangle.
The relay will start at Reconciliation Place and end at Commonwealth Park on April 24 two weeks from today.
Another meeting of the taskforce yesterday reviewed security again and came up with the third version of the route, Mr Quinlan said.
In a backflip, the International Olympic Committee said the Olympics torch relay would continue, despite violent anti-China protests and the promise of more trouble ahead.
Speaking in Mandarin, Mr Rudd told students in Beijing that Australia, like most other countries, recognised China sovereignty over Tibet. "But we also believe it is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems in Tibet," he said.
At the same time, Mr Rudd repeated his position that there should be no boycott of the Beijing Games, as suggested by some groups and international leaders who want to punish China for its crackdown in Tibet.
"I believe the Olympics are important for China's continuing engagement with the world," he said.
Chinese officials raised Mr Rudd's Washington comments on Tibet with Australian ambassador Geoff Raby in Beijing, and in Canberra, Chinese ambassador Zhang Junsai conveyed the protest to an Australian foreign affairs official.
However a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said no formal written complaint had been lodged.
"Australian and Chinese officials have discussed the comments and our differences over Tibet, including in Beijing and Canberra," the spokesman said.
"The Australian Government stands by its comments on Tibet, which reflect our strong and firmly held views."
Two Chinese politicians conducted a press conference yesterday which was broadcast live, in which they condemned Mr Rudd's comments on human rights in Tibet.
IOC president Jacques Rogge said reports that the overseas legs of the torch relay would be scrapped were false. However, top IOC officials meeting in Beijing this week are expected to discuss whether future Olympic Games should hold international relays, or stick to domestic routes only.
China has condemned the ongoing protests, but was accused yesterday of being deliberately provocative by sending the relay through Tibet in May.
The communist government of Tibet said it expected "trouble" during the torch relay through the Himalayan region, and warned protesters of severe punishment. Mr Rudd meets Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing today. On Saturday, he will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao at the resort town of Sanya, before heading to an economic forum in Baoa. with agencies
10 April 2008
The Canberra Times |
10 April 2008
Australia
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