Posted on 07/06/2008 10:33:58 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
President Bush on Sunday defended his decision to attend the opening ceremony of the Summer Games in China, saying he does not “need the Olympics” to express his concerns regarding the country’s human rights record.
While some world leaders have stated that they would skip the ceremony to highlight a Chinese crackdown in Tibet, Bush argues that he does not need to take such a step to address the issue.
“I had the honor of dealing with the Chinese -- two Chinese presidents during my term, and every time I have visited with them I have talked about religious freedom and human rights,” Bush said during a visit to Japan. “And so, therefore, my decision to go was -- I guess I don’t need the Olympics to express my concerns. I’ve been doing so.”
The U.S. president was backed by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who declared at a joint press conference for the first time that he would also attend the ceremony after a scheduling conflict had been resolved. Fukuda stated that the Olympics do not have to be linked to politics.
Bush argued that “the Chinese people are watching very carefully about the decisions by world leaders, and I happen to believe not going to the opening ceremony for the games would be an affront to the Chinese people, which may make it more difficult to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership.”
He added that he is “looking forward to cheering the athletes. I think it would be good for these athletes who have worked hard to see their President waving that flag.”
“offend China”
BFD. China offends me when they keep sending inferior, poisonous products to the US and expects our citizens to ignore the consequences of dealing with them.
Did he say that or this is what the media is telling you he said?
Bring lots of oxygen bottles and respirators... for the fans too, not just the athletes.
Smog in Beijing five times over safety limit as Olympics nears
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4276469.ece
I agree with him. You don’t need a foreign policy based on sticking your finger in their eye at every opportunity. Focus on the big picture.
Instead of complaining about the chinese, we should be making a point of buying American-made, union-free products. Yeah, sometimes you can’t buy from the good guys and are stuck with chinese or union stuff, but at least we should try sending a message to retailers and other suppliers.
Who gives a rat’s ass what the Chinese think? Oh yeah, George W.(spineless) Bush
Amazing!
Bush’s first crisis was when the Chinese brought down our Navy P-3 and took the crew prisoner. And he worries about offending the Chinese!
Guess we can’t do without all the cheap goods and contaminated food that is making a lot of George’s friends rich.
Neither—This is my feeling on China.
I am old enough to remember the U.S. leading a boycott of the Olympics in Moscow in 1980, and it did nothing politically. President Jimmy Carter initiated it to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but what it mostly did was to upset ordinary Russians and the athletes who had trained hard for four years and were now denied the opportunity to compete. It also resulted in an Eastern Block boycott of the 1984 summer Olympics in Los Angeles. For more on this, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-led_boycott_of_the_1980_Summer_Olympics in Wikipedia.
China does some bad things, but this is not the way to go about protesting them. It’s best to try to keep international politics out of the Olympics, IMO.
What with their earthquake misery as of late, I’d say let the Chinese keep some shred of dignity and have a decent Olympics.
With that being said, I do hope every company that shipped it’s manufacturing and jobs to China now enjoys paying miserably high shipping on it’s products while those few decent companies that stayed in the USA enjoy the benefits of not paying the same.
These Olympics will be hilarious. China is asking the world to look at them, and the world will.
Bush’s first crisis was when the Chinese brought down our Navy P-3 and took the crew prisoner. And he worries about offending the Chinese!
::::::
Bush is useless which became VERY APPARENT when his strident loyalty to Mexico, rather than the security and soverignty of our borders belonging to the REAL citizens of America, became sickenly apparent. And now he grovels to our energy suppliers and China.
Thank you Washington, DC, for a job well done for America.
not to pile on but..
Add locusts to China’s list of calamities
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041505/posts
I cannot find where he used the term “offended”, did he actually use the term offended?
He's run a foreign policy of not caring what other countries think for over 7 years now. Why the sudden change?
Bush not attending the opening ceremony, and a full American boycott of the games are two entirely different animals.
yup
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