Hu Jintao's iron grip will not relax ahead of the Games - activists beware! A lot of Christians are planning to go though. A news report today said that they've accused the Dalai Lama of fomenting rebellion with the Falun Gong and the Taiwanese. How ridiculous! What will they concoct next? I'm afraid to ask.
The Australian:May 22, 2007 - THE Chinese Government is starting a comprehensive campaign to counter any moves to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games in August next year including preventing human rights activists from travelling overseas.
The new Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, speaking during one of his first meetings in his new role with British counterpart Margaret Beckett, said there were a handful of people who were trying to politicise the Games.
"Their objectives will never be attained," the minister said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also condemned attempts to link the Games with "political issues", in this case the status of Tibet, which she said had been "an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times".
"The Chinese people and Government are vigorously devoted to the preparation work of the Olympic Games in 2008," she said.
Beijing's Communist Party boss, Liu Qi, told 730 delegates at the city's party congress that during the Olympics the city would be stable, clean and civilised. "From beginning to end, stability must be our No1 political task," he said.
French Socialist leader Segolene Royal would have been prepared to consider a boycott over China's strong oil-focused ties with Sudan, whose Government has been widely condemned for mass killings in the Darfur region.
She lost in her recent bid for the presidency, but her Socialist colleague, Bernard Kouchner, has just been appointed France's new Foreign Minister.
China also appears to be cranking up a strategy of preventing human rights activists with strong international profiles or contacts from travelling overseas, as a damage control measure in this sensitive period in the run-up first to the crucial five-yearly Communist Party national congress in October, then to the Olympic Games.
Hu Jia, a leading HIV-AIDS activist, and his pregnant wife Zeng Jinyan, just named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, had planned a two-month holiday in Hong Kong and nine European cities.
But on Friday morning, only hours before their departure, Mr Hu was taken into custody by eight police officers. He was released after five hours of questioning, but the couple was immediately put under house arrest.
Mr Hu said the reason was that "the authorities have been anxious about evidence that would damage Beijing's image for the 2008 Olympic Games".
In particular, he said, the police indicated they were "very concerned about a documentary film that my wife produced and recorded of the 214 days of my house arrest last year".
Officials were worried, he said, that the 30-minute film might be shown to International Olympic Committee members and other influential people during their visit to Europe. He told The South China Morning Post that "they are very scared that the boycott of the 1980 (Moscow) Olympics could also happen in Beijing".
Another prominent AIDS activist, 80-year-old doctor Gao Yaojie, was at first stopped from travelling to the US to receive a human rights award from the women's group Vital Voices.
But the authorities relented after US senator Hillary Clinton wrote to President Hu Jintao on Dr Gao's behalf.
Since returning from the US to her home in Henan province, however, she has complained about being cut off by the authorities from the outside world to the point where she might contemplate suicide. "I am under surveillance, I have become deaf, blind and mute," she said.
Leading human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his wife and children, also live in isolation within Beijing. He is forbidden from using his telephone or computer and unable to leave his home.
The new Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, speaking during one of his first meetings in his new role with British counterpart Margaret Beckett, said there were a handful of people who were trying to politicise the Games.
"Their objectives will never be attained," the minister said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also condemned attempts to link the Games with "political issues", in this case the status of Tibet, which she said had been "an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times".
"The Chinese people and Government are vigorously devoted to the preparation work of the Olympic Games in 2008," she said.
Beijing's Communist Party boss, Liu Qi, told 730 delegates at the city's party congress that during the Olympics the city would be stable, clean and civilised. "From beginning to end, stability must be our No1 political task," he said.
French Socialist leader Segolene Royal would have been prepared to consider a boycott over China's strong oil-focused ties with Sudan, whose Government has been widely condemned for mass killings in the Darfur region.
She lost in her recent bid for the presidency, but her Socialist colleague, Bernard Kouchner, has just been appointed France's new Foreign Minister.
China also appears to be cranking up a strategy of preventing human rights activists with strong international profiles or contacts from travelling overseas, as a damage control measure in this sensitive period in the run-up first to the crucial five-yearly Communist Party national congress in October, then to the Olympic Games.
Hu Jia, a leading HIV-AIDS activist, and his pregnant wife Zeng Jinyan, just named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, had planned a two-month holiday in Hong Kong and nine European cities.
But on Friday morning, only hours before their departure, Mr Hu was taken into custody by eight police officers. He was released after five hours of questioning, but the couple was immediately put under house arrest.
Mr Hu said the reason was that "the authorities have been anxious about evidence that would damage Beijing's image for the 2008 Olympic Games".
In particular, he said, the police indicated they were "very concerned about a documentary film that my wife produced and recorded of the 214 days of my house arrest last year".
Officials were worried, he said, that the 30-minute film might be shown to International Olympic Committee members and other influential people during their visit to Europe. He told The South China Morning Post that "they are very scared that the boycott of the 1980 (Moscow) Olympics could also happen in Beijing".
Another prominent AIDS activist, 80-year-old doctor Gao Yaojie, was at first stopped from travelling to the US to receive a human rights award from the women's group Vital Voices.
But the authorities relented after US senator Hillary Clinton wrote to President Hu Jintao on Dr Gao's behalf.
Since returning from the US to her home in Henan province, however, she has complained about being cut off by the authorities from the outside world to the point where she might contemplate suicide. "I am under surveillance, I have become deaf, blind and mute," she said.
Leading human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his wife and children, also live in isolation within Beijing. He is forbidden from using his telephone or computer and unable to leave his home.
The Australian:May 22, 2007 - THE Chinese Government is starting a comprehensive campaign to counter any moves to boycott the Beijing Olympic Games in August next year including preventing human rights activists from travelling overseas.
The new Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, speaking during one of his first meetings in his new role with British counterpart Margaret Beckett, said there were a handful of people who were trying to politicise the Games.
"Their objectives will never be attained," the minister said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also condemned attempts to link the Games with "political issues", in this case the status of Tibet, which she said had been "an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times".
"The Chinese people and Government are vigorously devoted to the preparation work of the Olympic Games in 2008," she said.
Beijing's Communist Party boss, Liu Qi, told 730 delegates at the city's party congress that during the Olympics the city would be stable, clean and civilised. "From beginning to end, stability must be our No1 political task," he said.
French Socialist leader Segolene Royal would have been prepared to consider a boycott over China's strong oil-focused ties with Sudan, whose Government has been widely condemned for mass killings in the Darfur region.
She lost in her recent bid for the presidency, but her Socialist colleague, Bernard Kouchner, has just been appointed France's new Foreign Minister.
China also appears to be cranking up a strategy of preventing human rights activists with strong international profiles or contacts from travelling overseas, as a damage control measure in this sensitive period in the run-up first to the crucial five-yearly Communist Party national congress in October, then to the Olympic Games.
Hu Jia, a leading HIV-AIDS activist, and his pregnant wife Zeng Jinyan, just named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, had planned a two-month holiday in Hong Kong and nine European cities.
But on Friday morning, only hours before their departure, Mr Hu was taken into custody by eight police officers. He was released after five hours of questioning, but the couple was immediately put under house arrest.
Mr Hu said the reason was that "the authorities have been anxious about evidence that would damage Beijing's image for the 2008 Olympic Games".
In particular, he said, the police indicated they were "very concerned about a documentary film that my wife produced and recorded of the 214 days of my house arrest last year".
Officials were worried, he said, that the 30-minute film might be shown to International Olympic Committee members and other influential people during their visit to Europe. He told The South China Morning Post that "they are very scared that the boycott of the 1980 (Moscow) Olympics could also happen in Beijing".
Another prominent AIDS activist, 80-year-old doctor Gao Yaojie, was at first stopped from travelling to the US to receive a human rights award from the women's group Vital Voices.
But the authorities relented after US senator Hillary Clinton wrote to President Hu Jintao on Dr Gao's behalf.
Since returning from the US to her home in Henan province, however, she has complained about being cut off by the authorities from the outside world to the point where she might contemplate suicide. "I am under surveillance, I have become deaf, blind and mute," she said.
Leading human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his wife and children, also live in isolation within Beijing. He is forbidden from using his telephone or computer and unable to leave his home.
The new Foreign Minister, Yang Jiechi, speaking during one of his first meetings in his new role with British counterpart Margaret Beckett, said there were a handful of people who were trying to politicise the Games.
"Their objectives will never be attained," the minister said.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu also condemned attempts to link the Games with "political issues", in this case the status of Tibet, which she said had been "an inalienable part of Chinese territory since ancient times".
"The Chinese people and Government are vigorously devoted to the preparation work of the Olympic Games in 2008," she said.
Beijing's Communist Party boss, Liu Qi, told 730 delegates at the city's party congress that during the Olympics the city would be stable, clean and civilised. "From beginning to end, stability must be our No1 political task," he said.
French Socialist leader Segolene Royal would have been prepared to consider a boycott over China's strong oil-focused ties with Sudan, whose Government has been widely condemned for mass killings in the Darfur region.
She lost in her recent bid for the presidency, but her Socialist colleague, Bernard Kouchner, has just been appointed France's new Foreign Minister.
China also appears to be cranking up a strategy of preventing human rights activists with strong international profiles or contacts from travelling overseas, as a damage control measure in this sensitive period in the run-up first to the crucial five-yearly Communist Party national congress in October, then to the Olympic Games.
Hu Jia, a leading HIV-AIDS activist, and his pregnant wife Zeng Jinyan, just named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, had planned a two-month holiday in Hong Kong and nine European cities.
But on Friday morning, only hours before their departure, Mr Hu was taken into custody by eight police officers. He was released after five hours of questioning, but the couple was immediately put under house arrest.
Mr Hu said the reason was that "the authorities have been anxious about evidence that would damage Beijing's image for the 2008 Olympic Games".
In particular, he said, the police indicated they were "very concerned about a documentary film that my wife produced and recorded of the 214 days of my house arrest last year".
Officials were worried, he said, that the 30-minute film might be shown to International Olympic Committee members and other influential people during their visit to Europe. He told The South China Morning Post that "they are very scared that the boycott of the 1980 (Moscow) Olympics could also happen in Beijing".
Another prominent AIDS activist, 80-year-old doctor Gao Yaojie, was at first stopped from travelling to the US to receive a human rights award from the women's group Vital Voices.
But the authorities relented after US senator Hillary Clinton wrote to President Hu Jintao on Dr Gao's behalf.
Since returning from the US to her home in Henan province, however, she has complained about being cut off by the authorities from the outside world to the point where she might contemplate suicide. "I am under surveillance, I have become deaf, blind and mute," she said.
Leading human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, his wife and children, also live in isolation within Beijing. He is forbidden from using his telephone or computer and unable to leave his home.
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