barroso - EU - olympics

Barroso: Tibet belongs to Chinese

Friday 25 April 2008

Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission (pictured) made clear his oppostion to a boycott of the Beijing Olympic's opening ceremony.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday during a visit to China that he was against a boycott of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August.
  
"The Olympics must be a celebration of the youth of the world and it must be a success. That is why I'm against a boycott," Barroso said after meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.
  
Barroso, leading a European Union delegation here, made the remark after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was "shocked" by last month's deadly violence in Tibet and urged China to give greater autonomy to the region.
  
Sarkozy also said in a television interview on Thursday that he had not yet decided whether to attend the August 8 Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing, but would work toward a common European position on the issue.
  
Sarkozy's comments, with France due to take on the EU presidency in July, could throw fuel on a simmering dispute over the recent Tibetan unrest and subsequent protests in Paris and London that disrupted the Olympic torch relay.
  

Vidéo

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  ANALYSIS

  "Everyone is trying to pour oil over troubled waters." International Affairs Editor Robert Parsons comments. 25/04 10am GMT+2

Pour aller plus loin

THAILAND: Torch-bearer boycotts Bangkok Olympic relay (19/04/2008)
FRANCE - CHINA: The Chinese threaten retaliatory boycott (16/04/2008)
2008 BEIJING OLYMPICS: Japan Buddhist temple boycotts torch relay (18/04/2008)