The International Olympic Committee (IOC) sent a letter to the organizers of the Beijing Olympics chastising them over "political statements" made by a Chinese official about the Dalai Lama during the Tibet leg of the torch relay, AP reported. In a speech at the closing ceremony of the relay, Tibet Communist Party Secretary Zhang Qinglin said, "We can definitely smash the separatist plot of the Dalai Lama clique completely." The two-sentence letter from the IOC expressed "regret" over Zhang’s remarks and cautioned against politicizing the games. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Zhang’s comments did not count as politicization, but were intended to promote a "stable and harmonious environment for the Olympics."
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