What They Said

AN STYLE="font-size: 75%; color:#990000; font-weight:bold">Saturday, July 14, 2001

"Comrades! We express our deep thanks to all our friends around the world and to the IOC for helping to make Beijing successful in its Olympic bid."
Jiang Zemin, Chinese President

"The (Taiwan) government sincerely hopes that the mainland authorities will host the Olympic Games with this same spirit by pursuing world peace and abandoning the use of force in both the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region."
Su Chen-ping, Taiwan Government Information Office Director

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"This will put the stamp of international approval on Beijing's human rights abuses and will encourage China to escalate its repression."
Kalon T.C. Tethong, Spokesman for the India-based Central Tibetan Administration

"Considering the escalation in serious and widespread human rights violations over the past three years, the Chinese authorities have a long way to go to demonstrate a healthy and basic respect for human rights."
Amnesty International

"Our efforts have paid off. The world has come to understand Beijing and China better."
Wang Wei, secretary-general of the Beijing bid committee

"I think the message was that the IOC wanted to open a country that represents one-quarter of mankind and had never organized the Games before."
Jacques Rogge, IOC delegate

"We're disappointed the IOC didn't get guarantees from the Chinese government on human rights issues before giving the Games away."
Sidney Jones, Asia director for the New York-based Human Rights Watch group

"This is a very important step in the evolution of China's relationship with the world. I think it will have a major impact in China, and on the whole, a positive impact, in the sense of giving them a high incentive for moderate conduct both internationally and domestically in the years ahead."
Henry Kissinger, honorary IOC member and former United States Secretary of State

"Some people say, because of serious human rights issues, 'We close the door and say no.' The other way is to bet on openness. Bet on the fact that in the coming seven years, openness, progress and development in many areas will be such that the situation will be improved. We are taking the bet that seven years from now we will see many changes."
Francois Carrard, executive director of the IOC