WASHINGTON -- Despite an outcry over China's human rights
record, Congress moved Tuesday to avoid confrontation with the
Beijing government over its bid to stage the Olympics and to
continue normal trade relations.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas., said it was unlikely
the House would take up a resolution opposing China's hosting of
the Olympics in 2008.
He said he believed the International Olympic Committee, which
meets Friday in Moscow to choose the 2008 site, would not be
influenced by a House vote against China. He added that China, if
it wins the games, might be forced to treat its citizens better
because, with international scrutiny, it "can't hide
transgressions against human rights."
China is the leading contender to stage the summer games. Other
candidates are Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka.
Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., at a news conference Tuesday, urged
the House to approve a resolution opposing the holding of the
Olympics in China. He said China's deplorable human rights record
violates the spirit of the games. He likened a Beijing Olympics to
the 1936 games held in Nazi Germany.
The Nazi Germany analogy was also made at a Ways and Means
Committee hearing where lawmakers urged the House to overturn
President Bush's decision to extend normal trade relations with
China for another year.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said there were "a lot of
historic parallels" to the 1930s when the United States and others
sought to appease Hitler's Germany. "We are making those same
mistakes today with communist China."
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