China tells IOC to stay away from 'irrelevant political factors'
Posted: 10 April 2008 1618 hrs

	Photos  of
	Related News • Olympic chief admits crisis, urges China to act on rights • Australian PM Rudd meets Chinese Premier Wen with Tibet on agenda • US President Bush under pressure to stay away from Beijing Olympics • Confusion, protests mar US leg of Olympic torch relay

BEIJING - China on Thursday urged the International Olympic Committee to keep "irrelevant political factors" away from the Beijing Games, after IOC president Jacques Rogge called on it to improve human rights.

"I believe IOC officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

"I hope IOC officials continue to adhere to principles of the Olympic charter."

Jiang was responding to comments by Rogge earlier in the day here in which he urged China to respect its commitment to improve human rights ahead of the Beijing Games.


Rogge emphasised that Chinese officials had promised when they made their bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics that being awarded the Games would "advance the social agenda of China, including human rights".

"This is what I would call a moral engagement rather than a juridical (legal) one," he told a press conference.

"We definitely ask China to respect this moral engagement."

In a separate address, Rogge also said a week of protests targeting the Olympic torch relay by groups critical of China's human rights record had thrown the Beijing Games into "crisis".

Rogge told heads of 205 National Olympic Committees at the end of their three-day general assembly here to return to their own countries to reassure athletes that the Beijing Games would be a success.

"Tell them that whatever they have seen and heard, the Games will be very well-organised," he said.

"Tell them that we will rebound from this current crisis."

Jiang gave a non-committal response to Rogge's crisis comment.

"Maybe he said some remarks that were... exaggerated or distorted by certain people," she said.

- AFP /ls