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'Tibetan protests against China's Winter Oly bid to fail'

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Press Trust of India Beijing
Overseas Tibetan groups' protests against China's bid to host the 2022 Olympic Winter Games were doomed to fail as they were "clumsy" and "laughable", according to a media report.

A coalition of 175 Tibetan human rights groups has sent a letter to International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to oppose Beijing's bid to host the Games.

The letter attacked the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and declared that the human rights situation in China's Tibet Autonomous Region has become even worse since then, state-run Global Times said in an editorial today.

The letter also criticised Kazakhstan's human rights record.

China and Kazakhstan are the only bidders for the 2022 Winter Games.
 

An IOC panel will start inspecting China's two host cities - Beijing and Zhangjiakou - next week.

The editorial said the Tibetan coalition is aware of the timing for its action.

"However, the letter is simply a clumsy show of cries and protest. A coalition of 175 Tibetan human rights groups? Whether the number is true or not, or how many members each of the groups has, is questionable.

"Their accusations against China will only cause laughter among the IOC officials who know Beijing and China better than the protesters do," the editorial said.

The Tibetan separatists already staged protest shows worldwide prior to the 2008 Beijing Games, it said.

"Now they are back again. The separatists try to depict the Tibetan plateau as all dark and repressed, knowing most foreign people do not know much about the real Tibet.

"Most of the overseas Tibetan separatists have lost their contact with the real progress in Tibet. They have always been trying to make troubles for China, and do not care about Tibet's actual development in various aspects.

"They feel excited in slapping Tibet and China. The repeated protests also fit certain needs of Western societies, which will win them some resources for survival in the West.

"However, the world is changing, China is growing stronger, and the reality of Tibet is getting to be known by more people outside the country.

"In the future, the Tibetan separatists will find it increasingly difficult to fool the world with their weak accusations. The letter they wrote to the IOC will no longer gain the coverage of 2008. They are doomed to fail," it said.

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First Published: Mar 21 2015 | 2:48 PM IST

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