This is out of Britain, and raises a good question.



British Olympic team told silence is golden

Should a competitor agree to the clause but then speak their mind about China, they will be put on the next plane home. To date, only New Zealand and Belgium have have a gag order on their athletes for the upcoming Olympics

So the question up for debate is this, Should the Brits just sign and keep their mouths shut about China and their human rights record, or have a right to speak out? Is the Brit Olympic chiefs acting correctly in this matter? Should the world boycott the Olympics over China's Human rights record?

Under no circumstances should the British athletes sign a gag order. Why should their right to free speech be infringed upon? They are there to be the best athletes in Great Britain, not diplomats. If I were a British athlete, I might boycott the Olympics as a protest against the UK government trying to tell them what they can and cannot say, as much as I would in protest of Chinese human rights violations. I also think that the British government was wrong to tell its athletes in 1938 to give Nazi salutes. If you don't agree with the host country's politics, you should be allowed to say so.

Frankly I believe that the athletes should leave the politics to the politicians. They're paid to play not to tell countries what to do.

But if I remember correctly, British Olympic Athletes pay for all their equipment and training. Their not being paid at all.

I could be wrong, but that is the state of affairs in the US. You don't get sponsored by the government. You do all the work and are hopefully rewarded later.

I don't know about how the athletes feel, but I would boycott. The Olympics are the chance of a lifetime for athletes, but I know I wouldn't give up my rights just for them. What's another four years? They aren't bound by China's laws, the Olympics is an international event. If the athletes want to speak, there's nothing China can do about it that won't ultimately hurt the world view of their country.

Just to be clear, is China mandating this gag order? Or is it just Britain trying to be PC again?

British Athletes are paid by sports foundations like UK Sport and Sport England etc, their training, travel and equipment is all paid for and the better they perform the bigger grant they can get.
Alot of the athletes wouldn't be able to compete if they had their grants taken away, so if it came down to a choice between signing or lose their grant they will probably choose to sign.

Four years is a long time to remain at Olympic level fitness. Maybe for some of the athletes this would be their last games.

The UK government is now looking at the wording of the contract as they don't want to restrict athletes freedom of speech.

Boycott? No.

Boycotting the Olympics isn't done for humanitarian issues--when it's happened in the past, it's been purely for political grandstanding. For example, we didn't boycott the 1936 games, despite the very obvious knowledge that the German Government was busy executing and arresting or forcing into exile all of it's political opponents, Gypsies, Jewish populations, and the entire German political left, not to mention backing what were at the time our enemies in Spain. We were still "okay" with the Nazis themselves, who were organizing the games--and we wanted some sports glory.

No, we boycotted the 1980 Games because of the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan--which was based on the same intentions and political promises we used in our own invasion of Vietnam. Basically, it was "okay" for us to do it, but a "no,no" for the Soviets.

What happens next? The Soviets and the rest of the Eastern Bloc, as well as several African nations, boycott the 1984 Olympics on the basis of "Anti-Soviet Hysteria", so-called "concern for their athletes" and as a response to President Reagan's sponsorship of right-wing causes overseas (the Mujahadeen, Contras, etc.). So basically, "oh yeah! Well, we can do it too, so nya nya nya nya!"

It's hard to imagine either side could be more childish.

Nations boycott the Olympics for purely selfish reasons--because they go to the Olympics for purely selfish reasons. There's little concern for the political motivations of the athletes, who are the ones doing the actual winning. Remember how the US Govenrment freaked out when Black athletes were planning to give the Black Power salute when they received their medals?

Not another one. This is getting stupid and is one of the thing that irks me. I recall during the Japan/Korean World Cup there was a protest against the Korean for eating dogs.

Some western nation/people seems think they have a higher moral standard than the rest of the world and that gives them a right to dictate other country how they should govern. This is a throw back to the old imperialist ways of the 18th and 19th century when the European powers were "colonising" the world.

Old habits dies hard I guess.

Kinneer, the reason that the UK might be worried about its athletes speaking their mind has less to do with dog eating, and more to do with China's clear human rights violations. You know, minor little things like leaving daughters out in the cold to die because girls are unwanted, that kind of thing. Or its huge trafficking problem, selling women as brides and prostitutes. Then there is its "one child per couple" policy. The idea that the state can tell its people they are only legally allowed to have one child is absolutely repugnant. There is also the forced abortions of some women who are having a girl...China's human rights violations are well known, and multiple. But, why would anyone want to speak out against those really minor issues, right?

I really don't feel bad if that means I think I have a higher moral standard than China does. You also completely missed the point...the UK isn't trying to dictate to China anything...it wants to suppress its own citizens right to speech. It wants to force those athletes competing under the union jack to keep their mouths shut, or they get left behind.

Just my words.

Given the circumstances with over population in China this might be the the only policy thats going to have a fast effect on the population. My politics tutor personally beleives its saved China from collapse.

at the cost of the state seizing total control over its citizen's lives, I am sure George Orwell would be proud.

Yes, but in China culture, boys are more desirable and profitable offspring then girls, which has led many couples to abandon their newly born girls in the middle of the forests. This desire for boys has also led to a population crisis in the other direction, where future reproduction is hindered due to a lack of one particular gender.

No, that is colletive punishment, affecting the chinese people.

No. No boycott. We need to all send people there and listen to what the Taiwanese atheletes have to say. It would be great with all the world watching for one of them to stand up and say how proud they are of their "free and independent nation" and put China on the spot in ways individuals from other countries simply discussing the matter can't.

Also it seems as though while Britain is looking to curb their atheletes, the Aussies have pretty much freed theirs up to say whatever they want to politically as the IOC just has speech rules limiting ya to not trash talking other atheletes

Indeed, Troll! Why is it that a little tiny island right next to China is the only country (I fully recognize Taiwan as an independent nation) that dares to challenge China? I don't understand why the most powerful nations in the world are too afraid to possibly upset poor little China's feelings, and this little upstart island is willing to?

While there's no doubt that the nation has a culture that favors boys (not uncommon in the world), whether it's a population crisis remains to be seen--the universal higher mortality for males means that by 15, the ratio is 1.06 to 1.00, male to female. Of course, when we're talking about more than a billion people, the numbers add up..



Take a deep breath, davious. You'll burst a blood vessel.

Honestly, I don't understand how or why Americans keep telling themselves Chinese Naval Infantry are three goose-steps from grappling up the docks at Taipei. You guys have way bigger problems with China than we do--hell, the Chinese are trying to poison your toys!

Being a Taiwanese citizen, I'm a little curious to see what will happen. With the KMT's landslide in the '08 legislative elections, there's a good chance that the government's line will be getting more buddy-buddy with China (the KMT has always been good about that, for the past twenty years), but athletes always have their "rebel" streaks, and even conservatives in Taiwan don't trust what the KMT says as oppose to what they actually do.

They may make some gesture, and the Chinese will respond with their usual lack of grace, but the actual Taiwanese people won't give a shit, just like last time it happened. Especially the non-Chinese, like myself.

We say it because you own government has been saying it. Even to the point of stating all the missiles being aimed at Taiwan, the massive Naval build up and the fact that the president of Taiwan said that in less then 10 years, he expects China to invade Taiwan.

I don't know how to say this beyond...."President Chen is a compulsive lair."

I'm not joking. Google 'Chen Shui-Bian', and you'll find the next most common result is 'Chen shui-bian corruption'.

That Naval Build-Up? It's been going on for thirty years. An entire generation has been born, grown up, and have had children while this was going on.

Those Missiles? A neat toy, when compared to the world's largest military reserves being across the strait, and capable of the short trip across it, for the past 30 years. It's not exactly like the fear my Grandparents had of American bombers discarding their ordinance over Taiwan. That was a serious concern.

The President of the ROC? In 2006, he's approval rating was less than six percent according to TSU (an organization in advocate of Taiwanese independence). Optimistic, pro-Chen news sources put it at less than 20%. His administration has been pretty much an unending embezzling scandals in his family. His wife has been the only sitting First Lady to face criminal charges since the founding of the republic before World War I.

The point? Chen could say that the Earth was a sphere in orbit of the sun, no one in his own country would believe him with the possible exception of his son (embezzler) and wife (embezzler).

The best part? He can't be prosecuted until he leaves office! Somehow, his presence has put a positive spin on the KMT and their 40 years of semi-Fascist rule and political persecution. The fact that he was chairman of the DPP (forced to resign when the KMT won) was a direct contribution to that fact.

Thanks to public indignation, the KMT, Chen's bitter enemies, control three-fourths of the seats in the Legislative Yuan. The KMT, and the pan-Blue coalition, is known as being favorable to the idea of "One China"--though in their opinion, the "Republic of China", not "People's Republic". In any case, they're much more friendly with the leaders of China now than the Pan-Greens ever were.

I wouldn't take him at his word. Then again, I actually voted against him in the 2000 election (it was a tough choice between him and the KMT, so I voted Independent), so I'm biased against that embezzling incompetent douchebag. He destroyed the credibility of the entire Pan-Green Coalition.

What reason would he have to lie to the United States, the world superpower standing in opposition to China?

Well It was more then just eating dogs. It was about the abuse that the Dogs were recieving before being eaten. I feel China needs the Olympics more then anything and they are the ones who bidded for it. I don't see how they can feel the need to make the athletes sign things. If they are so scared then why don't they just cancel the olympics. The Olympics is a WORLD game. What makes China special? They export most of our products?

Now it just seems Britain is going bit odd in their behaviour with China. At one point they wanted to keep their athletes from saying any thing bad about China. Now they are taking steps that would be of great embarrassment to China.