Washington, Sept. 4 (ANI): Actor Richard Gere is urging people to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympic, in order to put pressure on China to give independence to Tibet.

The Hollywood star, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, is a devout Buddhist himself.

He is certain that a boycott of the Olympic games will force China to let Tibet decide its future.

"A general boycott to me certainly has value; it's probably impractical, but emotionally absolutely makes sense. Why should the world reward people who are obviously so bad to their own people, so bad to other people," Contactmusic quoted him as saying.

"At some point they are going to have to face the fact that this system they have committed themselves to will not work. The kind of pretend dualism of communism and capitalism will explode at some point," he added.

Gere who has been barred from visiting China for his support for Tibet, had raised his voice about the plight of the Himalayan region at the Academy Awards in 1993 also. (ANI)