The on-going brutal occupation and colonisation of Tibet, that started 60 years ago and which continues to this day. We are well aware of the current political crackdown in Tibet, so I do not need to elaborate this point in today's speech. Perhaps one point I would wish to make here is that the Chinese government has said that they have invested billions of dollars in Tibet and in improving its economy. To me, this argument has the logic of the argument of a person who has invaded to your home and locked you and your family in a room for your good because he has decided to repaint and refurbished your home for his own needs and taste.

The denial of Chinese citizens of their basic civil and political liberties.
For example:

Furthermore, the Chinese government exports its human rights abuses to other countries such as:

To sum up, the Chinese authorities are clearly breaching international human rights standards. At present they perpetuate double genocide – one domestically against its own Falun Gong practitioners and the other by proxy in Darfur. This is happening in addition to well documented and on-going systemic abuse of civil and political liberties of Chinese people.

The Peoples' Republic of China government usually responds to the criticisms such as above by arguing that the notion of human rights should factor in standards of living; rise in the standard of living for some Chinese is seen as an indicator of improvement in human rights. I agree with the Chinese authorities' statement that progress has been made in securing economic rights of some Chinese. I am however of the view, that we cannot overlook the Chinese officials blatant disregard of basic political and civil rights.

Furthermore, the exclusion of Falung Gong practitioners, independence for Tibet supporters and other categories of people by Chinese authorities from participation in the Olympics is in clear breach of the non-discrimination clause of the Olympic Charter. Let us not forget, Hitler excluded German Jews from participating in the Berlin Olympics, too.

The controversy associated with the Olympic torch relay is an expression of the fact that there is growing world-wide concern about continuing human rights abuse in China.

The protest movement also indicates that China has come of age. China is no longer romanticised by Westerners as Mao's country of perpetual revolution, high on equality, low on economic wealth and of no local relevance. Contemporary communist China is seen for what it really is – a world power, economic powerhouse with global economic and military interests. In fact it is seen as a major world economy run by an autocratic government.

And as a result of this perception, different rules are starting to apply to the new China, because its power is not only impacting domestically as it was in the past, but its power extends to people living in liberal democracies of the West. In Australia, for example, our living standards, our economy and our security are directly linked to the decisions of Chinese Politburo. And Westerners are more and more aware and concerned about it. Many regard the human rights situation in China as a legitimate subject of conversation and as of direct concern to them. If it is OK to criticise the US for its world power status and for its human rights shortcomings, why not to criticise China? So let me reassure Chinese authorities, current human rights criticism is linked to China newly acquired worlds status and its human rights practices, and that there is no global conspiracy to damage the Beijing Olympics.

The public concern is, however, reflected in growing people's movement focussing on the human rights in China. And this public awareness has helped to build coalitions of people of good will with similar interests who are not afraid of intimidation by Chinese authorities. And here I am talking of emerging world people's power movement that is able to articulate its demands for improvement and starts to impact on democratic governments around the world and on China itself.

The World Organisation to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners is an example of such people's power movement. It has emerged as a grass root movement aiming to stop a campaign of abuse and murder inflicted on Falun Gong practitioners by Chinese authorities. This organisation relies on volunteers and has undertaken many pioneering initiatives. It recently organised the first ever Olympic Human Rights Torch Relay which visited many countries including Australia. This has created new tradition and informed the public about the fate of Falun Gong practitioners in China around the world.

There are also many other non-government organisations around the world which take direct action to improve human rights in China.

For example, the New York-based campaign Olympic Dream for Darfur has staged Olympic-style torch relays to bring attention to China's role in Darfur. Campaign director Jill Savitt says the relays have gone through countries affected by genocide: the Chad-Darfur region, Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Cambodia. She says there are plans for protests in other cities, including San Francisco, as the Olympic torch travels from Athens to Beijing in March. Stephen Spielberg withdrew as artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympic Games because of China doing nothing to end Sudan's attacks in the Darfur region. On 11 February 2008 a London paper The Evening Standard reported that after "a storm of protest" the British Olympic Association agreed to look again at the wording of the contract handed out to all prospective competitors. The contracts banned the UK competitors at Beijing Olympics from commenting on "politically sensitive issues", that is China's human rights record. The move also conjured up the spectre of 1938, when the England football team was told to make Nazi salutes in the Berlin Olympic stadium before playing Germany. This public concern about China's domestic human rights situation has not been always reflected by our democratically elected governments. They tend to give higher priority to good government to government relations, to pragmatic economic objectives and sometimes are afraid of retaliation. Despite this, to talk about Finlandisation of Australia by China is clearly not justified at this moment, but it could be at most considered as one of possible scenarios for future relationships between Australia and China.

However, it would be fair to say that now in some countries it is politically correct to discuss political independence of Kosovo, but not that of Taiwan or Tibet. This political correctness is of course best explained by a massive difference in power between Serbia and the People's Republic of China. But it would be also fair to say that some authorities, businesses or universities would be willing to sacrifice freedom of expression in order to please Chinese authorities. I am however certain, that with time the western governments, being democratically elected governments, will start reflecting the changing public opinion about China. This would lead to changes in government attitudes towards the Chinese authorities. So one could hypothesise that the "honey moon' period in relations between the West and China will have to come to an end. Last but not least, it is important to recognise that the people power is starting to develop in China, too. The official Chinese statistics indicate enormous growth in citizens' protests since 1999 – there were 2007 public protests (some with violence) in 2007; according to unofficial calculations the number was closer to 130,000 protests in 2007. There are also mass desertions from the Communist Party. Recently, for example, despite enormous personal risk some 60 intellectuals have signed a public petition calling for immediate release of human rights advocate Hu Juanita was also reported that a large number of Chinese bloggers have taken Mr Hu's cause demanding his immediate release.

Furthermore, the Falun Gong movement displays some characteristics that the "Solidarity" movement displayed in Poland in the 1980s. Both movements are characterised by their independence of government structures, spirituality and solid organisational skills. Both of them were able to see that the emperor had no clothes so to speak and demand their rights.

The recent sending of the Human Rights Torch Rely to mainland China will add to development of peoples' power where it counts the most.

And there are some signs that Chinese officials are starting to respond to political pressure. For example, as reported by David Kilgour, the Chinese Medical Association recently agreed that "organ tourists" will no longer be eligible to obtain transplants in China.

Weeks ago, China released two journalist prisoners, Yu Huafeng, a senior editor of the Southern Metropolis Daily and Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter for the Straits Times of Singapore, after having served half of their initial five-year sentence.

Remember that not long ago, peoples' power crumbled the Berlin wall and brought an end to the Soviet empire. People's power abolished apartheid in South Africa. Looking further back it took Christians about 300 years to stop persecution by the Roman Empire and declare it to be state official religion.

When China was given the 2008 Beijing Olympics we agreed that this would provide a historic occasion, a unique window of opportunity, to improve the human rights for one third of the world's population.

There are still those of us who believe -- or hope -- that such improvements, as promised to us, are still possible. According to USA Today of 9 February 2008 a US State Department spokesman, Mr Rob McInturff stated recently that "Our current position is we don't support calls for an Olympic boycott. This is an opportunity for China to step up and show the world an open and tolerant face of China ", acknowledging world concern about China's human rights record, but, at the same time challenging the government to step up to the plate and deliver on promises made.

But let us be realistic. In my view it is impossible to have the Chinese political system fully reformed to embrace democracy and to comply with international human rights within the next few months. So, what are the minimum demands to be complied with by Chinese authorities prior to the 2008 Olympics?

At an international human rights conference in Taipei in February 2008 I put forward the following four demands which were realistic and achievable prior to the Olympics, namely:

Today I would add one more demand – create Vatican-like status for Tibet. This is a practical suggestion to get out of current mess. Tibet is the holy place of Buddhism, lies on periphery of China and cannot threaten China either politically or militarily.

And let’s remember – all these proposals are doable, because they only require administrative decision to be taken by the same top people who are responsible for running the Olympics. And this is an important point to remember. The same Chinese officials are responsible for both the current deterioration of human rights in China and for running of the 2008 Olympics.

So what do we do in meantime? Do we stop our public expressions of displeasure about Chinese government human rights practices in hope that the Communist officials will see the light and start conforming to the standards of international human rights law?

In my view, the peoples’ power is unstoppable and protests will continue until human rights demands are met. And it is up to us people living in free world to express our solidarity with people who are suffering human rights violations under the Chinese regime. As Edmond Burke, an English philosopher once said 'the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And our action can achieve much.

And let us be clear. The disruption of torch relay or boycott of the Beijing Olympics is not an aim itself. Improvement in human rights in China is the objective.

Let us also be clear – the current protests associated with the torch relay are not against Chinese nation as such but against oppression of dissidents and minorities by the current Communist regime of China. A few days ago it was reported by media that Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in Australia called upon 'patriots’ in Australian Chinese community to go to Canberra to defend the torch relay from protesting Tibetans, Falun Gong practitioners and human rights activists. Such calls are here to perpetuate the myth that protests are about China itself and not about extrajudicial murder and torture of Chinese people by the communist authorities. Furthermore, if such an army of 'patriots” shows in Canberra, rightly or wrongly questions may be asked about the loyalties of Chinese community in Australia. I am an optimist and like many Chinese believe that democratisation of China is inevitable. One academic quoted to me an old saying when referring to the future of Communist system in China – 'regardless whether you are a slim or fat pig, your destiny is to be slaughtered”.

Full democratisation of China and in particular better protection of civil and political rights may take time to deliver. How long? It is difficult to be precise in estimation. But if one takes Moscow Olympics as a guide, it did not save the Soviet Union. On the contrary, it delivered first important step on the way to the collapse of the Soviet Union ten years later in 1990. The Nazi regime only lasted 9 years following the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

China after the Olympics will be certainly a different nation. World perceptions of communist China will change too. My hope remains that China, sooner rather then later would emerge as a nation where civil liberties are better understood, practiced and protected.

Therefore let us aim that the Beijing Olympic slogan 'One world, one dream” reads as Chinese dissidents suggested: ”One world, one dream -- same human rights”. The best long term legacy of 2008 Beijing Olympics should be not only new world records in different sporting disciplines, but also a lasting improvement in human rights of Chinese citizens.