Smog Chokes Beijing 12 Days Before Olympics
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The Chinese capital was shrouded in thick gray smog yesterday, just 12 days before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions. The pollution was among the worst seen in Beijing in the past month, despite traffic restrictions enacted a week ago that removed half of the city’s vehicles from roadways. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes’ Village yesterday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green. The city’s notoriously polluted air is one of the biggest questions hanging over the games, which begin on August 8.
CHINA DISMISSES GROUP’S BOMB CLAIM
China’s government dismissed claims by a Uighur separatist group that it carried out a series of attacks in the country between May and July, and warnings of more attacks during next month’s Olympics, Xinhua News Agency said. “There’s no evidence showing these incidents were related to terrorist attacks,” the state-run news agency said yesterday, citing comments by an official at the Shanghai Public Security Bureau. Agence France-Presse reported yesterday the Turkestan islamic Party claimed it was behind several attacks, including a bus bombing in Shanghai on May 5, another Shanghai attack, and an attack on police in Wenzhou on July 17 using an explosive-laden tractor.
PURGE OF TIBETAN MONASTERIES PLANNED
China is planning a sweeping purge of Tibetan monasteries, including banning all worship at those deemed to be major centres of subversion. Monks with “attitude problems,” or those who refuse to change their thinking in line with official demands, will be dismissed or jailed. Abbots and other leaders who fail to carry out government orders to “re-educate” their charges will be replaced by the regime’s appointees. The orders are contained in an official document posted only in Tibetan on the government’s Tibet information Web site. They refer to a prefecture of Sichuan province populated largely by Tibetans, Kandze, where some of the most violent clashes between monks and security forces took place earlier this year.
BUSH UNDER PRESSURE OVER CHINA CRACKDOWN
With President Bush set to leave next week for the Olympics in Beijing, the White House is coming under increased pressure from lawmakers and advocacy groups to make a public statement of concern about the crackdown on human rights and freedom in China. White House aides said it is likely that Mr. Bush, who has focused considerable attention on the cause of Chinese religious freedom, will worship at a church in Beijing during his trip, but they say the rest of his schedule remains in flux. What the president will do or say in Beijing is the subject of considerable debate within the administration, several officials said, but they expressed doubt that Mr. Bush would do much to embarrass the Chinese leadership during an event it considers something of a coming-out party for China as a world power.