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Germany Warns China Olympics at Risk
The Associated Press
Friday 21 March 2008
Berlin - Germany's foreign minister has warned China that its response to the
crisis in Tibet may jeopardize the Summer Olympics in Beijing, a newspaper reported
on Friday.
Frank Walter Steinmeier criticized the Chinese government's lack of transparency
in the ongoing conflict, according to an interview with the newspaper Bild that
will appear in Saturday's edition.
"This much is clear: the Olympic games don't work like they did 80 years ago,"
Steinmeier said according to an advance copy of the article made available by
Bild Friday.
"You can't just host glamorous events for television while things are going
topsy-turvy in your own backyard. The host has to allow thousands of journalists
into the country - you won't be able to sweep anything under the rug."
Tibetan exile groups say 99 people have been killed in a Chinese crackdown
on protests against its rule of Tibet over the last few weeks. The protests
began in Tibet and spread to other parts of China. Chinese officials say 16
have died.
Casualty figures and details about the protests and China's response have proven
difficult to confirm because China is tightly controlling the information and
keeping out all foreign journalists.
"The German federal government is saying to the Chinese government: be transparent!"
the newspaper quoted him as saying. "We want to know exactly what is going
on in Tibet. China is only hurting itself when it prevents outside observers
from getting a sense of what the situation is."
On Thursday, the last two remaining foreign journalists in Tibet - Georg Blume
of Germany and Kristin Kupfer of Austria - were forced to leave the capital,
Lhasa, according to Reporters Without Borders. Earlier this week, Economist
correspondent James Miles and a group of 15 Hong Kong reporters were forced
out.
Steinmeier also warned China to avoid any violent measures in its standoff
with Tibetan protesters.
"A solution can only be found through dialogue," Bild quoted him as saying.
"The Tibetans want to preserve their culture, China wants political stability
- with that in mind, the two sides need to approach one another."
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