China defends Darfur role, deflects Olympic warning

May 10, 2007 (BEIJING) — China defended its approach to the strife-riven Darfur region on Thursday, while pointedly avoiding a war of words with U.S. lawmakers who warned of an Olympics backlash if Beijing did not add to pressure on Sudan.

Human rights groups have condemned China over its policies about Sudan’s Darfur, where state-linked militia have been fighting rebels, causing widespread bloodshed.

Groups have urged a boycott of Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Games, a sentiment echoed by some politicians in the French presidential race.

Pressure grew on Wednesday when 106 members of Congress warned of a public relations disaster if Beijing does not use its sway over Sudan to help curtail the violence.

“It would be a disaster for China if the Games were to be marred by protests, from concerned individuals and groups, who will undoubtedly link your government to the continued atrocities in Darfur, if there is no significant improvement in the conditions,” said the letter issued by California Democratic Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu conspicuously avoided confronting the U.S. lawmakers and said that her country and Washington were cooperating.

“We can say that China and the United States share the same objective in Darfur. Both hope to use political means to resolve this issue,” she told a regular news conference.

Jiang did not directly answer questions about the letter, instead noting that China has decided to send 275 engineers for a U.N. force to bolster African Union peacekeepers already in Darfur who have often failed to stop carnage.

“Recent overall trends over the Darfur issue have been in the positive direction,” she said.

OLYMPIC JITTERS

China’s muted response to the tough letter underscored the delicate game it is playing as it seeks steady ties with both Washington and Khartoum, and as it confronts a volatile cocktail of Olympics jitters, human rights criticisms, energy interests and a new U.S. Congress often wary of Beijing.

“I think it’s going to be a media circus, but I expect the diplomatic process over Sudan, and the diplomatic process between Beijing and Washington will continue much as before,” Barry Sautman, an expert on China-Africa ties at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said of the letter.

“I think the U.S. understands that China is in a bit of a bind.”

China buys much of Sudan’s oil, and has used its veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to resist calls to send peacekeepers without Sudan’s consent.

Some critics say Beijing’s resistance amounts to abetting genocide and have called for threats to boycott the 2008 Games, which China has long planned as a showcase of newly garnered prosperity and stature.

Beijing said last month that using any excuses or political reasons to boycott or oppose the Games would go “against the broad goodwill of the international community”.

But it did nudge Sudan to accept peacekeepers and in April sent an envoy to inspect refugee camps in Darfur.

China and Russia on Tuesday both denied allegations by the the human rights group Amnesty International that they were breaching a U.N. arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan.

Amnesty said the flow of arms allowed by China and Russia was often diverted to be used in conflict in Darfur and neighbouring Chad.

(Reuters)