House Republicans Urge President Bush To Boycott Beijing Games

By RTTNews | nasdaq.com
August 23, 2007

A prominent California Republican congressman is helping to spearhead GOP efforts to urge President Bush to boycott the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing amid concerns that China has not improved its often-criticized human rights record.

Introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., the nonbinding resolution calls for the U.S. government to take "immediate steps" to boycott the games unless the "Chinese regime stops engaging in serious human rights abuses against its citizens and stops supporting serious human rights abuses by the governments of Sudan, Burma and North Korea against their citizens."

Rohrabacher, a member of the House Committee on International Relations, said the Olympic Games represent the "noblest elements of humanity," while the communist Chinese government "represents the opposite."

"The Olympic torch is supposed to be a beacon of light shining upon mankind's higher aspirations in the world, and it's a travesty to have that torch hosted by a regime that is the world's worst human rights abuser," he said.

The resolution is co-sponsored by House Republicans Joseph Pitts of Pennsylvania, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan, John Doolittle of California, Dan Burton of Indiana, Frank Wolf of Virginia and Christopher Smith of New Jersey.

Rohrabacher said just as the United States turned a blind eye to Germany's Nazi regime by participating in the 1936 summer games in Berlin, the U.S. participating in the 2008 games would ignore China's ties to the Sudanese government, which has been complicit in the genocide in the Darfur region.

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