To Beijing or not to Beijing, that is the question

Australians are trying to decide if their prime minister and the Olympic team should attend the Beijing Olympics or not. Polls show diverse results.

The Taverner Research poll conducted by the Sun Herald shows a majority (53 per cent) want prime minister Kevin Rudd to attend the opening ceremony and the Olympics, while 33 per cent want him to stay away in protest of China’s human rights record in Tibet, and 14 per cent are undecided. About a quarter of the respondents want their Olympic team to boycott the Olympics, 68 per cent want them to go ahead and participate and 7 per cent are undecided. The Olympic torch relay will run through Canberra, Australia in 11 days. The torch relay has already faced huge protests in London, Paris and in San Francisco. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed wanted the government to issue a stronger, formal condemnation of China over Tibet. The Prime Minister, however, dismissed the calls for a boycott. He insisted a boycott would not help the situation and instead Rudd wants to act as a broker between China and exiled Tibetan leader Dalai Lama. But China has so far ignored these calls and said it is their right to control Tibet. Rudd admits his influence will be minimal. He just came back after meeting the Chinese President Hu Jintao. Rudd said boycotting the Olympics won’t work and will be counter-productive to efforts to embrace China. However, he did tell Chinese leaders they have curb human rights abuses in Tibet, but Hu rejected his views. The Sun-Herald/Taverner poll of 550 people was conducted in NSW and Victoria between Wednesday and Thursday nights last week during the height of Mr. Rudd's overseas protests. The opposition leaders in Australia also want him and the team to attend the Olympics. Australia Tibet Council chairman George Farley said Rudd should not attend the ceremony. He said the team should participate but the leaders should take a firm stance against China’s human rights abuses:

Like many world leaders, Mr. Rudd has been invited to the Olympic opening ceremony and is scheduled to be there on August 8 to take part in a small ceremony involving Australia's athletes and the flag.

The same kind of Olympic debate exists in other countries, but I think in the end most countries will attend and China will remain the same without changing its position in Tibet.