Olympic promise must be kept

18th March 2008

In July 2001, Wang Wei, secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee had promised to give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China. In January 2007, a relaxed reporting rules were published which supposedly allow foreign journalists to report more freely on the mainland.

However, reporters were driven out of Tibet yesterday and their visual and audio recordings were forcibly removed. We consider these acts by the mainland official a violation of its Olympic promise and undermines freedom of the press in China.

We call upon the Central government to act in a restrained, civilized and humane manner regarding the issue in Tibet and to protect the basic rights and freedom of the people there. We also call upon the Central government to keep its Olympic promise and to allow journalists to report freely.