PRI’s ‘The World’: Olympic debate

The Beijing Olympic games are facing a crisis — International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge acknowledged that fact in recently in Beijing. It’s a crisis Chinese officials likely wish they weren’t facing now, just four months from the opening ceremony. But China’s response to the crisis is hardly helping.

A funny thing happened on the way to China’s Olympics coming out party. A country that has waged a sophisticated and successful charm offensive in recent years now seems tone deaf to how seriously its crackdown on Tibet is damaging its international image

A day after the Olympic torch rally in San Francisco was cut short to avoid a conflict with thousands of protesters, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman gave an alternate-universe description of the events.

The president of the International Olympic Committee called on China to honor the moral undertaking it had made when it bid for the Olympics — to improve its human rights situation.

PRI’s "The World" brings one-of-a-kind international stories home to America. Each weekday, host Lisa Mullins guides listeners through major issues and stories, linking global events directly to the American agenda. The show is produced by BBC World Service, PRI, WGBH Radio Boston, and distributed nationwide by PRI.

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