Don Foster, Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Sport, says China needs to live up to its human rights promises

The protests taking place as the Olympic torch makes its way around the world can’t have escaped anyone’s notice.  In London, Paris, and San Francisco protestors dominated the headlines as they used the Torch relay as an opportunity to make a stand against China’s domestic and foreign policy.

Some commentators argue that the Beijing Olympics will be overshadowed by these protests, and sporting excellence will be forced to the sidelines.  There are also those who have criticised human rights protestors for attempting to conflate politics with sport.

While I’m a passionate believer in the intrinsic value of the Olympic Games, I also fundamentally believe in the right to peaceful protest.  In reality it’s not as easy to separate politics from sport as some would like, or as some would have us believe. From the Berlin Olympics in 1936 to the Argentinean World Cup in 1978, totalitarian regimes have often used international sporting events to validate themselves in the eyes of the world.  The Olympic torch relay was in fact invented in its modern form by the Nazi regime in order to promote the Third Reich as a modern state with international influence.

I have never been opposed to the Olympic Games being held in Beijing.  But, when China was chosen as the host of the 2008 Olympics, they made a series of commitments relating to human rights and media freedom.  As we’re all aware, they are not being delivered.  That’s one of the reasons why I joined the recent Olympic torch relay protests in London with my colleagues Norman Baker and Lynne Featherstone.  I wanted to join others in showing China that the eyes of the world are upon them, and we expect them to live up to those promises.

The Liberal Democrats are clear that politicians should not expect people to do anything which they are not prepared to do themselves.  Sportsmen and women should be able to protest if they so wish, but they should not be expected to make sacrifices in the place of politicians.  It is for this reason that we have called on the Prime Minister to take a stand and boycott the Beijing opening and closing ceremonies.  Unfortunately Gordon Brown has decided against such a boycott.  After telling us he would be going to the opening and closing ceremonies, in a u-turn which he blames on scheduling difficulties, he won’t be present at the opening ceremony.  But he’s still intent on being present at the closing ceremony.  This half-baked approach will do nothing to dissuade the Chinese authorities from their current attempts to use these Games to validate their position in the international community.

That’s why our call for a political boycott is based on progress in Tibet, in Sudan, and with China fulfilling its commitments under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  It is time for the world’s leaders to show their support for freedom and human rights.  It is time to send an unequivocal message to the Chinese that they must pay more than lip service to their Olympic commitments.

First and foremost, the Olympic Games provide an opportunity for the whole world to celebrate sporting achievement, and I look forward to seeing our athletes taking part in the greatest sporting event on earth.  But we can not turn a blind eye to the actions of the Chinese authorities for the sake of sporting expediency.  The Olympic torch has shone a light on events in China.  The world’s attention is now firmly focused like never before. It’s now up to us to keep that spotlight firmly on China in the build up to the Games.  We must keep up the pressure on the Chinese authorities to live up to the promises they made when they were awarded the Olympics - that’s the real power of the Olympic movement.

The article first appeared in Lib Dem News