Australian PM speaks out on Tibet

Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd said in China today that there were significant human rights problems in Tibet, but argued against boycotting the Beijing Olympics over such issues.

“Some have called for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics Games … I do not agree,” Mr Rudd said in a speech at elite Peking University.

“But we also believe it is necessary to recognise that there are significant human rights problems in Tibet. As a long-standing friend of China, I intend to have a straightforward discussion with China’s leaders on this,” Mr Rudd said.

Mr Rudd is just the second major world leader to visit Beijing since the largest anti-government rioting in decades erupted last month in Tibet’s capital Lhasa and Tibetan-inhabited areas across western China.

He follows New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark, who on Monday urged China to show restraint in its response to the protests and engage in dialogue with its critics.

Beijing claims it is handling Tibetan issues appropriately and has rejected calls for dialogue with Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, the Dalai Lama, whose supporters it accuses of orchestrating the violence.

Mr Rudd is a former Beijing-based diplomat and fluent Mandarin speaker.