IN A SIGNIFICANT intervention, International Olympic Committee president Jacque Rogge said yesterday in Beijing: "I'm very concerned with the international situation and what's happening in Tibet. The torch relay has been targeted. The International Olympic Committee has expressed its serious concern and calls for a rapid peaceful resolution in Tibet". He spoke as the Olympic flame was briefly extinguished during violent protests in Paris - which he also deplored.
Much as sports enthusiasts may regret it, these Beijing Olympics have already been indelibly marked by worldwide protests over human rights in Tibet. They stem directly from the harsh crackdown imposed by Chinese authorities following violent demonstrations in Lhasa last month against Beijing's policies. Despite all their efforts to portray the demonstrators as a tiny separatist minority manipulated by a clique around the exiled Dalai Lama there is a gathering international momentum in favour of a real political initiative to address the Tibet issue. The Dalai Lama insists he favours autonomy and not secession, while Chinese leaders agree they would be willing to meet him if he really believes this.
They should take Mr Rogge's remarks seriously. He realises that a rapid political resolution is probably the only way to avoid an escalating protest movement internationally which would strengthen demands for a boycott of the August games. There is ample time for such a resolution to happen during the torch relay this month, before it reaches China on May 2nd. After that, and certainly in Tibet where it is also scheduled to go, there will be more opportunities for protests to be made.
The Chinese government could regain control of this situation if it takes a political initiative to open talks with the Dalai Lama, thereby testing his willingness to represent and negotiate for his people. This would encourage other governments to support such talks, shift the balance within sports organisations which are increasingly concerned, and enable more moderate Tibetan groups to assert their influence in favour of a political resolution.
Unfortunately it seems most unlikely to happen. China has too much at stake strategically in Tibet to give any impression of weakness after portraying these protests as so unrepresentative.
Difficult calculations of this nature will confront China's rulers more and more as political developments there catch up with its vast economic transformation.