CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia, which hosted last
year's Summer Olympics, said on Wednesday it would support China
if Beijing was chosen to host the 2008 games.
Prime Minister John Howard said Beijing, the favorite to
win the International Olympic Committee vote on Friday, had a
very strong claim to the event as it was the capital of the
world's largest nation.
However he declined to say whether he hoped Beijing would
win, saying there was some obvious concerns about human rights
issues in China that Beijing ought to respond to.
"I understand and am sympathetic to some of the human rights
criticisms that are made," Howard told local television.
"But in the end if it's the decision of the International
Olympic Committee to choose Beijing, we will strongly support
that decision."
Howard's comments came after Australian Aboriginal athlete,
Cathy Freeman, the face of last year's successful Sydney
Olympics, backed Beijing's bid.
Sydney narrowly beat Beijing for the 2000 Summer Olympics
with the ghost of the Tiananmen Square massacre of democracy
protesters helping to derail the Chinese bid.
This time Beijing has faced opposition from U.S. lawmakers
and from groups supporting Tibet, which China has ruled with an
iron fist since the 1950s.
The organizer of Sydney's successful bid for the 2000
Olympics, Rod McGeogh, opposed Beijing winning the Games.
"I just can't see how you can ignore the human rights issues
in China and I can't see how you, as an IOC, could say: 'Well,
look, that's a domestic matter, it's of no concern to us',"
McGeogh told reporters.
An editorial in The Australian newspaper on Wednesday said
China deserved the chance to host the 2008 Games and a victory
would present an enormous challenge for China to behave like a
good international citizen.
It said "belting China about the head with the Olympics"
would do little to stop political incarcerations and executions,
or to protect members of the outlawed spiritual movement Falun
Gong.
"On the contrary, the Chinese leadership would write
rejection off as 'Western imperialism', souring relations
between China and the world," the newspaper wrote.
"The more we regard the Olympic movement as a force for
peace and understanding, the more we should give Beijing a
chance with the Games."
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