Countdown Beijing -- Foreign Ministry Defends Olympic Relay Comments

A heavy security presence marked the Lhasa relay. (Getty Images) Dalai Comments Apolitical: Foreign Ministry

The Communist Party boss in Tibet did not politicize the torch relay when he said China will "smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama," according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said his colleague in Lhasa intended simply to foster a stable and harmonious environment for the Olympics with his comments.

The comments on June 21 were not political, Liu emphasized, speaking at a regular press conference on June 26.

"China's solid position is against the politicizing of the Olympics,'' he said, repeating a mantra heard especially during protests during the torch relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco earlier this year.

Liu also said that he has no knowledge of an International Olympic Committee letter sent to BOCOG president Liu Qi after the speech.

The IOC letter refers to the Lhasa comments as political comments and calls on BOCOG to prevent any further political crossover into sport.Yao Ming stretches his injured foot during a press conference to mark the Beijing launch of the Yao Foundation June 26 – its first mission is earthquake relief fundraising. (Getty Images)

Yao Ming Returns to China

Yao Ming will join China's basketball team for light training this weekend, just days after his return to China.

His appearance with the team has been in question since February, when he suffered a stress fracture in his left foot, ending his NBA season with the Houston Rockets.

"The most recent X-ray shows that 80 percent of the fracture has healed, and full recovery usually takes about a year," Yao told reporters waiting for him at Beijing International airport on Thursday.

Doctors told him to stay away from regular training until the end of July, Yao says.

It is not yet clear if Yao will actually compete with his team at the Olympics. For now, his training is limited to tactics.

Torch Route Shifts, maybe to Space City

The Olympic torch may visit a top-secret site over the weekend, according to a Chinese media report.

Much of the Gobi Desert site of Dongfeng Space City is off limits to foreigners. The report in the Mandarin service of Xinhua says that the torch will spend June 28 in Dongfeng Space City.

The site in the Gobi Desert of Inner Mongolia is one of the places in China used for satellite launches.

For now, the Olympic torch relay is in central China, reaching Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi province, on June 26.

Thousands of people gathered along the relay route way before the relay was scheduled to start, media reported.

As usual, the ceremony started with a one-minute silence to commemorate the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake and a display of local folk dances. The relay then officially kicked off with the famous Chinese singer, Tan Jing as the first torchbearer.

The relay route spanned a total distance of 11.2 km, involving 208 torchbearers, among them was Robin Li, the CEO of China’s search giant Baidu.

The torch was carried on a train for 600 meters at one point – the first rail trip for the torch. The route also passed through the complex of Taiyuan Iron and Steel group, a state-owned enterprise that produced steel for the construction of Olympic venues.

The three-hour relay came to a conclusion when Guo Fenglian, a member of the National People's Congress Standing Committee and the CEO of Dazhai Group, lit the cauldron.

The torch heads to Datong June 27, which is the last stop in Shanxi province.

Beijing Briefs…

Yao Ming’s fans will be able to bid on the bed that he sleeps in during the Olympic Games soon. The NBA star’s bed is one of some 200 million pieces of Olympic memorabilia up for grabs on online auction site Beijing Equity Exchange. Anyone is allowed to bid, including international buyers. As of June 25, hundreds of Olympic items such as electrical appliances, bed side tables, chairs and single beds had already been posted on the website. The auction is predicted earn some $145 million for BOCOG and is similar to asset auctions conducted after other Olympic Games.

Chinese telcos are acting on government orders to stop expansionin order to focus on Games-time service. Major companies such as China Telecom, the country's main fixed-line service; ISP China Netcom; and China Mobile are among those affected, according to media reports. All three are partners of the Games. China Netcom has informed customers that adding new services in August may be impossible. Employees of the other two companies privately confirmed their moratoria, according to an AP report.

Media rights group Reporters without Borders calls on French president Nicholas Sarkozy to heed the call of 53 Members of European Parliament and boycott the Olympic opening ceremony. RWB says it has a petition signed by 53 MEPs making the request. The European Parliament held a hearing on Chinese policy in Tibet in April, during which several members urged a leadership boycott of the Games. Sarkozy has not publicly revealed any plan to either attend or miss the ceremony.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro says he looks forward to a hurdle duel between island star Dayron Robles and champion Liu Xiang of China. His comments come via Cuban media reports on the occasion of a state visit from a Chinese Communist Party delegation. Robles broke Liu’s 110 meter world record by 0.01 second at the 47th Golden Spike IAAF Grand Prix in Ostrava, Czech Republic earlier this month.

Media Watch…

CNET blogger Graham Webster talks about the extent of internet censorship in China and gives tips for more secure email communication, but opines that spying on normal Olympic visitors and journalists is not a priority for Beijing.

Written by Elsy Belina and Maggie Lee

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