It has come to the attention of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation that various public pronouncements are being made which suggest that the organization has been displaying partisan political preferences.
Moreover, it is being alleged that during the current period, the organisation has been directly involved in activity that might be construed as being both political and partisan in nature.
Our concern is twofold; first, it has to do with the potential impact of this perspective on the image of the organization and the tournament, which image we have worked diligently to build over the past 22 years. Our second concern has to do with the likelihood of negative responses to the propagation of such views.
Indeed, it would appear that one of the objectives of what has developed in serious, media-driven campaign is to cause support for the 22nd tournament to decline.
At the outset, the Kashif and Shanghai Organization wishes to make a few things clear. First, as an