China Rejects Call For Jewish Boycott of Olympics

The Chinese government is rejecting a call for Jews to boycott the Beijing Olympics over China's policies toward Tibet and Darfur. In a statement sent via e-mail to The New York Sun yesterday, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said Chinese leaders are "very much concerned" over the tourism-focused boycott endorsed last week by nearly 200 rabbis and Jewish leaders.

"The Chinese people and the Jewish people shared similar suffering during World War Two, and China provided refuge for many Jews from Nazi Germany's persecution during that miserable time," the spokesman, Wang Baodong, said. "It's really an offense for the Chinese people as they learn that these rabbis were comparing the Beijing Olympics to the Nazi's Berlin games."

Mr. Wang said Chinese officials were heartened that six Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and the Orthodox Union, denounced the proposed boycott. "We believe that the majority of the Jewish people know the truth well that China is in no way like … Nazi Germany at all," he said.

The embassy spokesman insisted that the boycott proponents' concerns about human rights issues and the treatment of Tibetans were unfounded. "All ethnic groups in China including the Tibetan people are enjoying unprecedented human rights and religious freedom," Mr. Wang said.

Chinese officials also spoke out against Senator Clinton's recent anti-China rhetoric in the presidential race. "We're going to go right at China. On its currency manipulation, on its industrial espionage, on its counterfeiting, on its theft of intellectual property, on the practices that interfere with a free market," CNN taped her saying last week.

"Trade and economic interactions are beneficial for both the Chinese people and the American people," Mr. Wang said. "We hope that the U.S. side sees China-U.S. relations in a subjective and rational way, and does not bring American political factors into this relationship."