Britain’s Brown: Skipping Olympics opening not a boycott

Can - or, some might say, should - any politician ever be trusted?

And when is a gesture that looks like a boycott not really a boycott?

Those are some of the questions the latest news about British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s on-again, off-again plans for attending the Olympic Games in Beijing in August seems to be provoking.

Kieran Doherty/Reuters

London, March 27, 2008: British Prime Minister Gordon Brown greeted French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife, Carla Bruni, on the occasion of Sarkozy’s state visit to the U.K.

At first, supposedly, Brown had indicated that he would attend the Games. Then, in the public-relations dust-up that surrounded last weekend’s protest-marked passage of the Olympic torch through London on its symbolic trip to China, Brown hinted that he would not attend the opening of the Games on August 8. Whether he intended to suggest it or not, the implication of that news was that he would not grace the colorful, high-profile, globally televised opening-ceremonies event with his presence as Britain’s official representative. Was that suggestion a concession to anti-China protesters who have demanded that the communist government in Beijing be punished or at least symbolically reprimanded in some big, obvious way, for its human-rights record?

During French President Sarkozy’s recent state visit to the U.K. and also at a press conference last week, when a reporter asked Brown about the threat the French leader had voiced about possibly boycotting the Games, the British PM replied: “I think President Sarkozy said himself that he expected Britain, because we are going to host the next Olympics, to be present at the Olympic ceremonies, and I will certainly be there.” (Times)

Now, Brown’s office has more emphatically stated that he will not attend the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremonies. As a result, the British leader is facing “claims of duplicity.” His announced decision “means he is only the second major world leader after Germany’s [chancellor,] Angela Merkel [, who intends] to skip the August 8 opening. But Downing Street sought to scotch any talk of a boycott, saying it had always been clear that the prime minister would only attend the closing ceremony, while [Olympics Minister] Tessa Jowell would attend the opening on behalf of the government.”

Joe Chan/Reuters

Those are not Chinese athletes training for the forthcoming Olympic Games; those are Chinese soldiers practicing their moves in preparation for the tight security they’ll help provide for the international sporting event that will open in Beijing on August 8

However, Brown’s critics have noted that he “had shirked earlier opportunities to clarify his plans, while Tibet campaigners challenged him to specify the reasons for his absence at the showpiece opening event” of the forthcoming Beijing Games. Actress Joanna Lumley, an activist on behalf of the Free Tibet movement, said: “What he must now say is that he is not going because it is in protest at the human-rights position in China,” Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, “said Brown was suffering from ’strained semantics’ and it was ‘a belated U-turn’ as Brown had never said in public that he would be absent.” Clegg said that the confirmation from Brown’s office indicating that he will not attend the opening ceremonies in Beijing was “part of a pattern, when he only does the right thing late in the day when he is forced to do so by public opinion.” Notes the Guardian: “Praise for Brown’s decision was no less awkward, given Downing Street’s insistence that this did not amount to a boycott.” (Guardian; also, Scotsman)

About Brown’s latest, stated intentions, the Times reports: “Unlike his peers, however, he will not be boycotting the ceremony in protest against the Chinese crackdown in Tibet. A Downing Street spokeswoman said that…Brown had never said that he would go. ‘There is no change in our position,’ she said. Having accepted an invitation during a visit to China in January,…Brown will be in Beijing 16 days later, for the closing ceremony, when London picks up the Olympic baton from the 2008 hosts.”

For now, the Times, notes, all that may be said of George W. Bush’s plans is that “possibly” he will be “staying away” from the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics. Agence France Presse reports: “Bush has so far resisted calls for him to…declare outright that he will skip the opening ceremony, but [a] statement by his Republican heir apparent [, John] McCain [, has] further raised political temperatures. ‘I believe President Bush should evaluate his participation in the ceremonies surrounding the Olympics and, based on Chinese actions, decide whether it is appropriate to attend,’ McCain said in a statement.”

Posted By: Edward M. Gomez (Email) |
April 11 2008 at 12:00 AM