In Monday’s Washington Post, Ellen Bork, a human rights
advocate at Freedom House, wrote a provocative
editorial about the unprecedented opportunity which President Bush has in
choosing to attend the Olympics this summer in Beijing. As the first sitting U.S.
President to ever attend an Olympic games outside of the United States, Bork
points out, Bush has an important chance to challenge China on its domestic
policies from religious freedom to the freedom to oppose the government
peacefully. He should do this, she
argues, not merely by discussing such topics with Chinese leadership in the
abstract but by “meeting with dissidents during his visit to Beijing…[as] the
best way to associate himself and the United States with Chinese people who are
working the hardest and risking the most on behalf of the freedom about which
he so often speaks.”
On the domestic issues Bork’s analysis is spot on. In addition, in regards to international
issues, President Bush must also remember that he is not, as his press
secretary has asserted, just merely a “spectator” and should engage in
discussions (even in an informal way) with the Chinese government. From China’s continued role in propping up the
military junta in Myanmar
to its investment in the Sudanese state-owned oil industry (which has led Mia
Farrow and others to call the games “the Genocide Olympics,”) there
are many issues on which President Bush can increase his engagement.
This a certainly a new modus operandi for political advocacy
surrounding the Olympic games. Few
advocates are calling for a boycott.
Instead the focus is on using the fact that China has the Olympics and to push
for positive action in advance of and coordination with the Games. Here at the RAC we have embraced this new
method of advocacy. This past fall our Commission on Social Action discussed
the importance of using the Olympic Games as a tool for advocacy on Darfur and
just last month Rabbi
David Saperstein spoke alongside Olympic athlete Joey Cheek and Mia Farrow
at the Chinese embassy here in Washington about ending China’s financial
support of the Sudanese government and their state-sponsored janjaweed militias.
But ultimately who better to deliver this message then our
President? President Bush has chosen to
attend the games. Let us also hope that
he chooses to push for change while he is there.
