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Prime Minister Stephen Harper has called on China to respect human rights but suggested it is premature to think of boycotting the 2008 Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing. Harper was speaking to reporters Thursday, in Bucharest, Romania where a key NATO summit is taking place. Harper said Canada would be sending high-ranking representatives to the opening ceremonies. He suggested the world is watching China's behaviour closely. "I would continue to urge China to respect human rights and peaceful protest, not just in Tibet but everywhere," Harper said. "And I would also encourage the government of China to understand that its growing wealth, its growing profile in the world and of course the profile of the Olympics will put a greater and greater spotlight on its record in this regard." International concerns about China's handling of recent unrest in Tibet will only escalate if things don't change, Harper said. "My strong advice would be to take these concerns seriously because I think they are likely to grow rather than diminish if we see a repetition of the current pattern," Harper said. At the same news conference, Harper announced his goal of convincing other members to ante-up 1,000 troops, as well as equipment, had been achieved and Canada would be extending its military role beyond the February 2009 deadline. China to re-open Tibet to tourism Meanwhile, it appears China is moving to close the book on the recent unrest well ahead of the Olympic Games, by planning to put the Tibetan rioters on trial and re-opening Tibet to tourism by May. Chinese state television on Thursday showed some Chinese travellers returning to Lhasa, Tibet's capital. China's regional tourism authority also announced Tibet would reopen to foreign groups on May 1 -- the beginning of a national three-day holiday. China continues to blame Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for a bloody March 14 riot in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama's special envoy in Washington told U.S. legislators that China must bear full responsibility for recent violence and suffering in Tibet, saying his homeland is being "brutally occupied.'' "The situation today is grim," Lodi Gyari told a Congressional Human Rights Caucus briefing.
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