Olympics athletes sign letter urging China to respect Tibet freedoms

Cuban hurdler and US runner among signatories about to take part in games

Peter Walker Guardian.co.uk.

Thursday August 07 2008 : More than 40 athletes taking part in the Beijing Olympics urged China's government today to respect human rights and freedom of religion, particularly in Tibet.

One of the most high profile signatories was Dayron Robles of Cuba, the world record holder in the men's 110m hurdles, who is well known to Chinese fans as a rival to their most famous track athlete, Liu Xiang.

Other signatories include US 400m runner DeeDee Trotter, a relay gold medallist in Athens in 2004, and the Croatian women's world high jump champion, Blanka Vlasic.

The letter, signed by 127 athletes in total as part of an initiative involving the International Campaign for Tibet and Amnesty International, urges China's president, Hu Jintao, "to protect freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of opinion in your country, including Tibet".

It asks Hu "to ensure that human rights defenders are no longer intimidated or imprisoned", and also to end the death penalty.

"China is the focus of worldwide attention," it says. "Your decision on these issues will determine the success the Olympic games and the image the world will have of China in the future.

"We are asking you to respect human rights in China in order to achieve lasting peace and reconciliation."

The letter dismayed Chinese authorities, who are desperate to shift the attention away from human rights and on to the games.

But, with a day to go before the opening ceremony in Beijing, this is proving difficult. Earlier today, George Bush, making what is likely to be his final speech as US president in Asia, told an audience in Thailand that the US "stands in firm opposition" to political and religious repression in China.

"We press for openness and justice not to impose our beliefs, but to allow the Chinese people to express theirs," he said.

In a more conciliatory tone he added: "Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and its own traditions. Yet change will arrive."

His comments brought an immediate rebuke from Beijing with a foreign ministry spokesman condemning "any words or acts" that meddled in the country's internal affairs.

The Beijing games are widely viewed as China's formal coming out party as a major global power and have been greeted with a frenzy of patriotic pride among the country's people.

Right groups and supporters of the Tibet cause, however, see the event as an ideal time to focus global attention on China's continued suppression of political and religious dissent.

Three US Christian activists were dragged from Beijing's Tiananmen Square today after staging a protest in favour of religious freedom.

Chinese plainclothes security officials swooped swiftly on the campaigners, also trying to prevent reporters seeing the incident.

China's government allows religious worship but only within institutions which pledge primary allegiance to Beijing. Police regularly arrest people who choose to worship at underground "home" churches.

Four foreign protesters, including two Britons, were held for unfurling Tibet independence banners in Beijing yesterday.