Apprehension has been long expressed about the Beijing Olympic Games in August due to several issues. Two of them — air pollution in the Chinese capital and food safety — focus on the Games themselves. A third one involves criticism of China's human rights records and its close ties with Sudan, whose Darfur region has become a killing ground. Now the crackdown by Chinese authorities on Tibetan dissidents has made the clouds gathering over the 2008 Summer Games still darker.
The 130-day global Olympic torch run, covering a distance of some 137,000 km, started April 1 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. After making stops on the five continents, the flame will enter China in early May via Hong Kong and Macau. It is scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Aug. 6, two days before the start of the Games.
The torch relay, however, has become a target of protests over China's repression of Tibetans and its human rights records. In London, one protester tried to put out the flame. In Paris, protests forced security officials to extinguish the flame twice and halt the relay midway. In San Francisco, the relay route and the destination had to be changed suddenly. Top leaders of several countries including Germany, Poland and Britain have decided not to attend the Games' opening ceremony.