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Evil fascism/racism in europe



Chinese mountaineers slam French move against Everest climb
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         BEIJING, March 4 (AFP) - Chinese climbers Tuesday hit out at
French
critics of an Sino-French expedition to climb the world's tallest
mountain
from the Tibet side.

   "I am indignant at the reaction of certain people in France who want
to
politicise a sporting activity like mountaineering," the vice-president
of
China's Alpine Association, Li Zhixin, told AFP.

   "French mountaineers have considerable experience which is why we
decided
to work with them, but because of these opponents who want to stage a
political campaign, we have been forced to delay this cooperation," he
added.

   The expedition, organised by Serge Koenig, a guide in the French
Alpine
resort of Chamonix, was due to have been staged this spring, but will
now get
underway at best by the spring of 1988 or could even be abandoned,
Koenig
said earlier in France, following massed complaints.

   More than 2,000 people, most of them mountaineers, have signed a
petition
protesting the Everest expedition because of Beijing's repression in
Tibet.

   The French Alpine Club (CAF), which organized the petition, says the
expedition risked being seen as supporting China's policy towards Tibet.

   The trip "would legitimize all China's demands on Tibet, contributing
to
people forgetting the limitless oppression there," said CAF president
Andre
Croibier.

   Chinese troops moved into Tibet in 1951 in what Beijing said was a
move to
liberate the people from their oppressive rulers.

   Opposition to China has continued since then, the most serious being
a
failed 1959 uprising which led to Tibet's spiritual ruler the Dalai Lama
fleeing into exile.

   Using 20 Chinese and French climbers the expedition had planned to
open a
new direct route on the north face of Everest, using fixed ropes to
scale a
rocky spur at over 7,000 metres (23,100 feet).

   The expedition, called Alliance 8848, would use oxygen cylinders for
more
than 2,000 metres before making the final assault.

   Koenig has denounced his critics as "jealous schemers," saying that
for
years French expeditions had set off from the Tibetan side of the
mountain.
"Why should our expedition be more of an endorsement of what goes on in
Tibet
than the other expeditions or the hundreds of tourists who visit Tibet?"

   The expedition has been "strongly condemned" by the CAF for
"excessive
publicity" and "use of disproportionate resources" which were bound to
"flout
elementary ethics" and "harm the environment."

   The climb was to be televised live and helicopters and a satellite
mobilised to assist coverage.

   The expedition has been approved by the French and Chinese
authorities and
will be sponsored by French industrialists anxious to gain a foothold in
the
Chinese market and who have formed the association Alliance 8848.