Bipartisan Letter Urges Bush To Skip Olympic Opening Ceremonies Amid Tibetan Crackdown

Washington, DC (AHN) - Fifteen lawmakers have called on the White House to stop President George Bush from attending opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing this August, citing China's recent human rights abuses.

In a letter to the president, the congressmen citied the recent crackdown on Tibetan protesters, China's close economic ties with Sudan and the recent suppression of religious and human rights advocates as among the reasons America's Commander in Chief should avoiding the Olympic Games.

"It would be clearly inappropriate for you to attend the Olympic Games in China, given the increasingly repressive nature of that country's government," the lawmakers wrote in a letter organized by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA). The letter also noted that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and other world leaders have already vowed to skip the opening ceremonies as a direct result of China's crackdown on Tibetan dissidents.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) added that while she does not support an athletic boycott of the Beijing games, she does hope Bush will reconsider attending the opening ceremonies as a symbolic gesture to support the people of Tibet.

Bush, who has sharply confronted China's President Hu Jintao concerning Beijing's harsh crackdown of protests in Tibet, maintains that the Olympic games should not be used as a tool for obtaining political change.