The International Olympic Committee said there will be corrective measures taken if China dishonours a pledge to improve human rights before the 2008 Games, but denied plans to take the Games from Beijing.
Rogge told reporters in Kuala Lumpur Saturday, “if we are not satisfied with any of the aspects, be it transport, pollution, security, we will act and that means we will take corrective measures, but don’t ask me to tell you what we will do because I don’t know what is going to happen”.
“This is purely speculative…let the case come up first and we’ll see what the best action is, but I never, never said that we will withdraw the Games. That is absolutely stupid”.
Rogge was referring to his remarks being interpreted as a veiled hint that Beijing could lose the Olympics.
He said the IOC would not monitor the human rights situation in China as it has “no authority and we have no expertise in monitoring”.
“To monitor, you need experts, people who are specialized. You need teams who go and see what the situation is. This is not the task of the IOC”, he said.
“We are in favour of human rights, but we are not a monitoring organization, we are a sports organization…but we are informed”.
The Committee for Investigation on Persecution of Religion in China and the Free China Movement released this month what they said was a report from authorities in Jilin province, one of the provinces where the Falun Gong has been most active, seeking a crackdown on all dissident groups to “host a better and successful Olympics in 2008”.
The report called for organizers of demonstrations to be swiftly arrested and “punished severely”, sanctions of up to three years in custody, fines of 10,000 yuan, and for members of the Falun Gong to be particularly harshly dealt with.
