The United States has not yet decided whether to oppose China's bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said today.
Asked whether the US government would adopt a position on China's bid, which has been heavily criticised by human rights campaigners, Mr Powell told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary that "we have not decided whether we will or will not."
China's bid has been opposed by a campaign of members of Congress who say Beijing should not be rewarded for an "abominable" human rights record.
The House of Representatives' International Relations Committee has already voted to pass a non-binding resolution opposing China's Olympic bid to a full vote before the entire House.
Democratic Representative Mr Tom Lantos has warned that Beijing's Communist rulers would try to copy Adolf Hitler's tactics during the 1936 Berlin Olympics and exploit the Games to cement their rule.
China has angrily condemned the resolution, branding it a Cold War-era farce full of ulterior motives that is in "blatant contempt" of Olympic ideals.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution strongly opposing Beijing's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games, which were eventually handed to Sydney, Australia.
Beijing, thought by many observers to be the favourite for the 2008 Games, nonetheless faces stiff competition from Osaka, Toronto, Istanbul and Paris.
The International Olympic Committee will have the host vote in Moscow in July.
AFP