The International Olympic Committee on Thursday asked China to honour its pledge to "improve" human rights ahead of the Beijing Games. "This is what I would call a moral engagement rather than a juridical (legal) one," IOC president Jacques Rogge said at a joint meeting between the Association of National Olympic Committees and the IOC executive board in Beijing."We definitely ask China to respect this moral engagement," Rogge said here at a press conference, noting that Beijing had pledged to "advance the social agenda of China, including human rights" if Beijing won the bid to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, to be held from August 8-24. Rogge said there were no plans to cut short the troubled torch relay for the Beijing Games as the flame faced angry protesters in London on Sunday and Paris on Monday and forced a change in the relay route in San Francisco on Wednesday.Asked if the Olympics was in one of the "biggest crises" after the boycott era, Rogge said, "It is a crisis. There is no doubt about that. But the IOC has weathered many bigger storms." He referred to the Munich Olympics in 1972 as the "biggest crisis."Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that Rogge's view of a "crisis" might have been exaggerated."I believe IOC officials support the Beijing Olympics and adherence to the Olympic charter of not bringing in any irrelevant political factors," she said.Attention to China's rights record intensified in March, when protests in Tibet against Chinese rule of the region erupted into violence. Exiled Tibetan leaders say more than 150 people were killed in the ensuing crackdown by China. Beijing has repeatedly blamed the Dalai Lama for the unrest, an allegation he has refuted.
