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Knocking Turkey easier than bashing the Chinese |
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By Ian Swanson
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Posted: 10/17/07 07:57 PM [ET] |
While Congress seems willing to pick a fight with Turkey over the World War I-era killing of Armenians, members have been much more cautious about confronting China over next year’s Olympics in Beijing.
Three House bills urging a boycott of the Olympics because of various human rights and foreign policy concerns regarding China were introduced in August, but so far the measures have struggled to find support.
“They think it punishes the athletes rather than the people you want to punish,” said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who is the lone sponsor of legislation calling for a boycott of the Beijing games in response to China’s support for a Sudanese government accused of genocide.
Three House resolutions urging a boycott so far have gained a total of only five additional co-sponsors since their introduction in August, and Democrats in particular have been wary of throwing their support behind the measures.
“I would have thought that Democrats would be much more supportive than they have been,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), whose resolution criticizes China’s support of the military dictatorship in Burma and its treatment of the Tibetan minority in addition to its Sudan policy.
The lawmakers whom Rohrabacher has approached in both parties “have been extremely cautious, thinking that it could be used as obstruction of the Olympics as an institution rather than a statement on China,” Rohrabacher said.
“It’s clear that a lot of members of Congress are making decisions on fundamentally moral issues based on a desire not to upset a very powerful force in the world,” he said.
House Democrats seem less concerned at offending Turkey, although that country has been a key ally in the United States’ efforts in Iraq. The House Foreign Affairs Committee approved a resolution last week that required the president to refer to the killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923 during the founding of modern Turkey as genocide.
House leaders have promised a floor vote on the resolution, which would be a victory for a large and well-organized Armenian-American community that has lobbied for similar measures for the past two decades. Wary of the fallout, however, Democrats have noted that the resolution in no way reflects on the current Turkish government.
Nevertheless, the Armenian genocide resolution continues to provoke outrage in Turkey. The country withdrew its ambassador after the committee vote and its top general indicated relations between Turkey and the United States could be irrevocably damaged by the resolution.
Calls for Olympic boycotts have similarly enraged China, which has engaged in a public relations campaign against that approach. For example, Chinese officials earlier this year actively lobbied members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) against calling for a boycott of Beijing over China’s support for the Sudan regime. China argues it is working to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Waters is so far the only CBC member to sign on to a congressional resolution calling for a boycott. Rohrabacher initially seemed to have won a key supporter in Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, but she withdrew her support on Oct. 15.
A spokeswoman for Kilpatrick in a voice mail message said the congresswoman initially signed on to Rohrabacher’s bill but has since taken a “slight re-direction.” The spokeswoman said Kilpatrick hopes that “we as Americans can focus on some domestic priorities before we shift our focus onto our global partners and countries to mandate that they make certain restitutions.”
Presidential candidates have been equally cautious. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) floated the idea in a June debate, and former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) signaled his support in response, but no presidential candidates have formally called for a boycott.
GOP presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney went the other way by criticizing boycott calls. After Richardson’s remarks, Romney said former President Jimmy Carter accomplished nothing with his boycott of the Moscow Olympics in 1980 following the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan.
U.S. Olympic Committee representatives have argued against even talk of a boycott, and advocacy groups have been almost as cautious. Celebrities like Richard Gere have called for a boycott, but groups such as the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), on which Gere serves as a chairman, have stopped short.
“Our hope is that the Chinese will move forward the dialogue and will take the opportunity [of hosting the Olympics] to improve human rights conditions in Tibet and to invite the Dalai Lama to China,” said the ICT’s Mary Beth Markey. She said a boycott is “something we’d have to consider in the future.”
The Dalai Lama has tried to use the games as leverage to convince the Chinese government to allow him to come to China, but he too has not called for a boycott of the Olympics. The Dalai Lama will visit President Bush in Washington this week and on Wednesday will accept the Congressional Gold Medal, despite opposition from China.
But a few members of Congress plan to press forward, even if their boycott calls have failed to win much support. Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), a co-sponsor of Rohrabacher’s bill, said he’s spoken with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) about a possible Senate bill. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) also is expected to hold a hearing on the 2008 Olympics in an effort to bring more attention to China’s human rights record, several sources said.
Pitts also believes support for a boycott could grow during the Dalai Lama’s visit this week, which raises the profile of China’s human rights abuses against its own Tibetan minority.
“This is a way to put pressure on them to change the repressive human rights policies at home and in Burma, North Korea and Sudan,” Pitts said in an interview.
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii), an influential member of the House Armed Services Committee, is a recent convert and co-sponsor of Rohrabacher’s bill.
He said he wrestled with the decision but grew frustrated over China’s efforts to weaken United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Burma’s government.
“When China’s ambassador to the U.N. said, ‘There’s not really much we can do’ … I thought, ‘That’s the end of it,’ ” Abercrombie said. |
