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TALK FIRST: Mr Mandelson urged European leaders to use persuasion in the Tibet issue.
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LONDON - THE European Union's trade chief has warned that attempts to publicly embarrass China over Tibet will prove ineffective and could prompt retaliation against European economic interests.
In a speech in London on Tuesday, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said the issue of human rights should not be 'walled off' from the trading relationship.
But he insisted that a 'political gimmick' like boycotting the Beijing Olympics would serve neither Europe's interests nor those of Tibet.
'Telling the Chinese that you want to turn the Olympic Games into a fiasco and a major international embarrassment is not going to encourage the Chinese to listen,' he said.
His remarks came just days before a delegation of top EU officials heads to China in an effort to establish a new body to oversee trading relations.
Mr Mandelson, who will be part of the delegation, referred to signs of a backlash already building in China following the protest-marred Olympic torch relay in Paris, including calls for a boycott of French retailer Carrefour.
'Are we now going in for tit-for-tat boycotts?' he asked. 'Are we going to boycott their economy when it is already such a big player, or sever trade when there is such a big interdependence between China and the rest of the world?'
Mr Mandelson urged Europeans to use dialogue instead 'to persuade the Chinese state leaders that it is in their own interests as much as anyone else's to accept and respect religious freedom in Tibet'.
While EU governments have ruled out an overall boycott of the Games, there is still discussion about the bloc's leaders staying away from the opening ceremony on Aug 8.
United States Olympic Committee chief Jim Scherr said the US would consider a boycott only if China were unable to guarantee the safety of athletes. But he felt 'absolutely good about China's preparations on security'.
He said the world should embrace the Olympic ideals and get its message across in the same way that black sprinter Jesse Owens did in 1936.
'If Jesse Owens did not go to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin and show the world that the ideology that was in place at the time was flat wrong by winning four gold medals, he would not have had the opportunity,' he said.
'We are looking forward to taking this team to Beijing and making those statements.'
NEW YORK TIMES, REUTERS
THE TURMOIL OLYMPICS, REVIEW
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