Political Pressure On China Heats Up As ’08 Games Approach

Verbruggen Does Not Believe IOC Should Dictate Policy

Human-rights activists and other groups “are seeking to leverage the global attention on the [’08 Beijing] Games for their own causes,” according to Oster & Fowler of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. Some are talking about a “possible boycott,” and Harvard Univ. will hold a conference Saturday “about how the 2008 Games can influence human-rights causes.” China supports Sudan, which is warring in the Darfur region, and U.S. Gold Medal-winning speed skater Joey Cheek is recruiting athletes to use the ’08 Games “to pressure China to take more action to end the fighting.” Some groups are “enlisting the help of Hollywood to further their causes.” Several past Olympians, along with activists and actor George Clooney, last year visited China “to lobby Beijing on Darfur,” and actress Mia Farrow called on Steven Spielberg “to step down from his work on the opening ceremony of the Games.” The IOC is “trying to distance itself from political causes.” IOC Coordination Commission Chair Hein Verbruggen: “We are not in a position that we can give instructions to governments in how they behave.” BOCOG Deputy Communications Dir Sun Weide added any attempt “to politicize the Olympic Games ... is against the purpose and principals of the Olympic movement.” IOC President Jacques Rogge said, “Would any political situation be better if we were not coming here? Certainly that would not be the case” (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/26). Verbruggen added, “The IOC has always taken the position with political crises (like Darfur) that they should be discussed at the United Nations” (London TELEGRAPH, 4/26).

CRACKING DOWN ON FAKES: BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Clark & Cheng report China is “cracking down on unlicensed Olympic products by introducing a hotline to report violators, stepping up inspections and putting microchips in tickets.” Beijing Intellectual Property Office Deputy Dir Wang Lijun said protecting Olympic trademarks is a “core task” for the Chinese government (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 4/26).