Obama Boycott the Beijing Olympics

Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama said in a statement on Wednesday that given
the chance he would not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics.

“In the absence of some sense of progress, in the absence of some sense from the Dalai Lama that there was progress, I would not have gone,” Obama told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.

Obama feels the US has not been aggressive with “China on the issue of Tibet.” Obama said he “would liked to have seen some more aggressive efforts to encourage progress and talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama.

Obama’s decision to boycott comes just days after U.S. president George Bus’s statement that he will be attending the opening ceremony on August 8th, 2008.

The Democratic nominee joins a long list of world leaders who have refused to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics in the wake of China’s human rights record and their handling of the unrest in Tibet.

Tags: Politics, Olympics