Beijing Olympic Games

Mike Moore, the New Zealand former prime minister and former director-general of the World Trade Organization, has criticized boycotting the Beijing Olympics.

In an article carried by the New Zealand Herald daily on Wednesday, Moore said an Olympic boycott would be futile and counter-productive. "Why should sports people carry the absolute burden of foreign policy?" he asked.

China has only become integrated into the global economy over the past 20 years. The results for China have been stunning — hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of extreme poverty.

This is lifting living standards worldwide, has kept global inflation down, and stretched families’ purchasing power. And in part, this is why the last 10 years has seen the most sustained economic growth in history, he wrote.

Source: Xinhua