Taipei - A Taiwan opposition party leader Sunday called the Beijing Olympics a copy of the 1936 Games hosted by Nazi Germany and criticized the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for allowing China to host them.

"On August 1, 1936 Hitler opened the Olympics in Berlin, boosting the morale of Germans. The IOC hoped that letting Germany hold the Olympics could make Germany more democratic and peace-loving, but the result was the opposite," Tsai Ying-wen said in an article published in the China Times.

"During the Berlin Olympics, Germany suddenly became peace-loving and removed 'No Jews' signs. Hitler tried to make the world believe that Germany was the friend of the whole world. But history showed that Hitler told a big lie.

"During the Olympics, Hitler preached peace while building concentration camps. After the Olympics, Germany made the decision to kill millions of Jews," the chairwoman of the Democratic Progressive Party wrote.

The article said that in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, China has tightened control in the province of Xinjiang and Tibet, arrested dissidents and is said to have installed surveillance equipment in taxis.

"Shops in Beijing are required to report to police suspicious- looking people and apartment windows facing the main street in Beijing must remain shut. China is using the state machine to crush dissidence, so the Beijing Olympics is a celebration held under martial law," the article said. (dpa)