China hails 100-day mark to Olympics amid Tibet, torch troubles
BEIJING (AFP) — China hailed the 100-day countdown to the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday, but simmering controversies over Tibet and the torch relay, as well as heavy pollution, cast a shadow over the milestone.
A fun run involving thousands of people held to mark the day got underway near key Olympic venues in the north of the capital, where speakers blared the unofficial theme song of Games preparations, "We Are Ready".
But as if to underline the clouds over the August Olympics, the runners set off under a pall of smog enveloping the city, which some elite athletes have identified as a health threat that may stop them competing.
Unrest in Tibetan regions also continued to fester, with state press reporting overnight that police in northwestern China on Monday shot and killed an ethnic Tibetan suspected of inciting anti-China protests in March.
It was the first official admission that police had killed a Tibetan in the unrest that has flared across the Tibetan plateau, embarrassing and angering China's communist rulers ahead of the Olympics.
Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people have been killed in a subsequent Chinese crackdown, while China had so far insisted the only deaths were 20 people killed by Tibetan "rioters".
Meanwhile the Olympic torch was due to return to Chinese soil in Hong Kong on Wednesday after a worldwide relay marred by protests by critics of China's control of Tibet and clashes between protesters and Chinese supporters.
Demonstrations are expected in Hong Kong, which has freedom of expression laws, during Friday's relay, while American actress Mia Farrow, who is pushing China to help stop violence in Sudan's conflict-riven Darfur region, is also expected in the city.
A lengthy domestic relay throughout China looks set to provide its share of controversy too, amid plans to take the flame through still simmering Tibet and heavily Muslim Xinjiang, where Chinese control also is widely resented.
While China has been praised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for Games venues and other physical preparations, it has come under fire for allegedly falling short on promises made to help secure the Games.
These included human right improvements, a vow to hold a "green games", and reduced restrictions on foreign media.
Earlier in April it jailed high-profile dissident Hu Jia, a case activists say highlighted a campaign of official harassment and detentions of critics aimed at silencing dissent during the Games.
Meanwhile, the capital has been wrapped in smog for much of the past few weeks. The IOC has said some distance events may have to be postponed if the air is a health threat.
China risks creating a "hostile environment" for foreign journalists by attacking Western media and curbing reporting freedoms in violation of Olympic promises, a press group said on Wednesday.
The Foreign Correspondents Club of China said a campaign against foreign media threatened to "poison" the atmosphere for overseas media with the Beijing Olympics now just 100 days away.
"One hundred days before the Olympics, death threats against foreign correspondents and official statements demonising Western media risk creating a hostile environment for foreign journalists based in China and for tens of thousands of additional media planning to cover the Games," it said.
The FCCC said at least 10 foreign correspondents in China "have received anonymous death threats during a campaign, on the Web and in state-run media, against alleged bias in Western media coverage of the Tibetan unrest and its aftermath."
The association also called on China to abide by new regulations launched in January 1, 2007, shedding some restrictions on foreign journalists.
Those have been largely cast aside amid the Tibet unrest, with vast Tibetan-populated areas cut off to the outside world amid a massive crackdown on anti-China rioting that broke out last month.
"Foreign correspondents have been detained, prevented from conducting interviews, searched, and subjected to the confiscation or destruction of reporting materials," the FCCC said.
"Authorities have intimidated Chinese sources and staff, and in some cases ordered them to inform on foreign correspondents' activities.
In an editorial, the China Daily newspaper vowed the decision to award the Games to China would be vindicated.
"(Beijingers) want to tell the world that their rationale for bidding for the Games in 2001 was sound then, and remains sound today," it said.
