Sunday, March 30, 2008

Olympics, protests, face, boycott

There has been riots from Tibetans all over the world protesting China as host of the Olympic Games (from what I read) because the Tibetans want to be free from China. And so on.

And I think they've well succeeded in making China 'lose face' since there are some countries which hinted at boycotting the event. Most recently was French President N. Sarkozy (who brought his new wife to visit the Queen in UK and the British press now love Carla). And the EU is supposedly still in a dilemma about boycotting the opening of the Games.

Here's something I got from the Torch Relay website.

The cities along the route are:

Beijing; Almaty; Istanbul; St.Petersburg; London; Paris; San Francisco; Buenos Aires; Dar Es Salaam; Muscat; Islamabad; New Delhi; Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur; Jakarta; Canberra; Nagano; Seoul; Pyongyang; Ho Chi Minh City; Hong Kong; Macao; Hainan Province (Sanya, Wuzhishan, Wanning, Haikou); Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shantou); Fujian Province (Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen, Longyan); Jiangxi Province (Ruijin, Jinggangshan, Nanchang); Zhejiang Province (Wenzhou, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shaoxing, Jiaxing); Shanghai; Jiangsu Province (Suzhou, Nantong, Taizhou, Yangzhou, Nanjing); An'hui Province (Hefei, Huainan, Wuhu, Jixi, Huangshan); Hubei Province (Wuhan, Yichang, Jingzhou); Hunan Province (Yueyang, Changsha, Shaoshan); Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (Guilin, Nanning, Baise); Yunnan Province (Kunming, Lijiang, Xamgyi' nyilha); Guizhou Province (Guiyang, Kaili, Zunyi); Chongqing; Sichuang Province (Guang'an, Mianyang, Guanghan, Leshan, Zigong, Yibin, Chengdu); Tibet Autonomous Region (Shannan Diqu, Lhasa); Qinghai Province (Golmud, Qinghai Hu, Xining); Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Urumqi, Kashi, Shihezi, Changji); Gansu Province (Dunhuang, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Tianshui, Lanzhou); Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Zhongwei, Wuzhong, Yinchuan); Shaanxi Province (Yan'an, Yangling, Xianyang, Xi'an); Shanxi Province (Yuncheng, Pingyao, Taiyuan, Datong); Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Hohhot, Ordos, Baotou, Chifeng); Heilongjiang Province (Qiqihar, Daqing, Harbin); Jilin Province (Songyuan, Changchun, Jilin, Yanji); Liaoning Province (Shenyang, Benxi, Liaoyang, Anshan, Dalian); Shandong Province (Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao, Rizhao, Linyi, Qufu, Tai'an, Jinan); Henan Province (Shangqiu, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Luoyang, Anyang); Hebei Province (Shijiazhuang, Qinhuangdao, Tangshan); Tianjin; and Beijing.

One of the highlights of this leg will be the attempt to bring the Olympic Flame to the highest peak in the world Mt. Qomolangma. During the arrival ceremony for the flame into China on March 31, 2008, one of the lanterns with the Olympic Flame will be kept aside. The torchbearer team will then attempt to take the Flame to the highest peak on a day in May that presents the best climatic conditions for the ascent.

I saw on a Taiwanese news programme just now, there are debates about whether the torch relay will still go to Lhasa in Tibet. That'll be in May. However the International Olympic Committee stated that it'll still go to Lhasa.

This is horrifying.

With the current situation in Tibet ongoing, and there still isn't any kind of solution to this except to kill and kill and kill - just like the U.S. This is atrocious! They're undermining the safety of their torch relay team and let them go to Lhasa (that's the location in Tibet where most of the protests are taking place). Hope everything will be peaceful by April. And Mt. Qomolangma is in Tibet -_- Looks like they're gonna plan to stay for quite some time in Tibet. *shudders*

You can check out the planned route for the torch relay here. It's interactive.

They're not coming to Singapore.

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