WASHINGTON (AFP) — A boycott of the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing is a "cop-out" and diplomacy is a more effective way of pressuring China on Tibet, US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said Sunday.
"I think unfortunately, a lot of countries say, 'Well, if we say that we are not going to the opening ceremonies, we checked the box on Tibet,'" Hadley, a top aide to US President George W. Bush, said on Fox News Sunday.
"That's a cop-out. If other countries are concerned about Tibet, they ought to do what we are doing, through quiet diplomacy."
Bush is under pressure from human rights groups, some Democrats and even his Republican party's presumptive White House nominee to boycott the August ceremonies over China's crackdown in Tibet and its record on human rights.
The president said Friday that his plans regarding the Olympics "haven't changed," but left unclear whether he would attend or not.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is not going to the ceremonies, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also not attending, although his office insists he never intended to.
Hadley said Bush had been clear that he was "going to show support" for the American participants in the Olympics, and also that he had raised the issue of rights and Tibet with the Chinese president recently.
He called the boycott issue a "bit of a red herring," arguing that the international community would be better served using its leverage with China to pressure it to hold talks with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
"We think it is very important to deal with the Tibet issue, but we think the best way to do that is through the kind of diplomacy we have been undertaking, not by the kind of frontal confrontation that is being suggested by some," Hadley said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
