(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-03-25 18:24

Eberhard Sandschneider, a German scholar on China issues, said a boycott of the Olympics would neither do good to the Tibetan people nor put pressure on China during a recent interview with German radio Deutsche Welle.

"It is a widespread erroneous notion that pressure, criticism or threat of sanctions can bring about political change. Experience has shown that a long and arduous but constructive dialogue with China could lead to success rather than if it excludes China," Sandschneider said.

"And we must not forget that economic success has led to China's self-awareness on the world stage, which grows as fast as the gross national product of the country.

"The few pictures that we have seen from Tibet show the violent rioters and arsonists. No country in the world can afford such a high potential for violence in its big cities to run without the police or military intervention. So I try to encourage people to see the issue in a different perspective in order to hopefully come to the conclusion that unilateral approaches do not help.

"It seems that China scares us because it develops so fast and because we do not know the immediate consequences of this. But I am firmly convinced that the notion of a China threat makes no sense. The country has an impressive economic development.

"In the meantime, it also accumulated problems in the social, economic and environmental spheres, such as the current situation in Tibet. Ultimately, what China does is legitimate from the perspective of the Chinese government. We would do the same if we only could. Instead of pointing fingers to China, we should think of what we must do to the global challenges we face.

"From a Western perspective, we are clearly overwhelmed at this moment with the question of how we will deal with a country that is economically successful and becoming a major competitor of us. In this respect, a new Cold War with China cannot possibly be in our interest. None of the pressing global problems can be solved without China and this must be the basis for our China policy."