China vows to send torch through Tibet; Rudd’s blunt message; another media tour goes awry

China vows the torch will go to Tibet. That’s what you call sticking to your guns. Violence won’t help Tibet’s cause, says Australia’s Courier-Mail:

Peaceful protest is one thing; violence, water, fire extinguishers and angry mobs will not replace diplomatic pressure and cannot be condoned.

This comes after PM Kevin Rudd sent an “unusually blunt message to China over its humans rights abuses. How blunt, you ask?:

Australia, like most other countries, recognises China’s sovereignty over Tibet,” Mr Rudd told a packed lecture theatre of more than 500 students at Peking University at the start of a four-day trip to China – the first by a high-profile Western leader since the unrest in Tibet broke out a month ago. “But we also believe it is necessary to recognise there are significant human rights problems in Tibet. The current situation in Tibet is of concern to Australians.”

Is that what passes for blunt when it comes to China? The IOC is still in denial. Venezuela sticks up for China. Support for Tibet from the biggest little city in the world. And monks disrupt a Beijing-scripted media tour — again. Video here.