China hits back as blazing row over Sudan role mars Olympics build-up

Published on Thursday 14 February 2008 21:08

CHINA’S staging of the Olympics threatened to develop into a full-scale diplomatic crisis last night after Beijing’s leaders accused critics of its policy in Sudan of “ulterior motives”.

During one of just two weekly chances for journalists to ask the Chinese government about international issues, officials said they shared concern at the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

Liu Jianchao, a foreign ministry spokesman, said: “It is understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but I am afraid that some people may have ulterior motives, and this we cannot accept.”

Mr Liu said China was working with the United Nations to resolve the crisis and providing aid to Sudan. “China is also concerned about the humanitarian issues there, but we have been playing a positive and constructive role in promoting peace in Darfur,” he said.

China has consistently said it opposes any attempt to “politicise” the Olympics, which begin on 8 August.

The latest argument was sparked this week after the Hollywood director Steven Spielberg pulled out of his role as artistic director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the games, citing China’s indifference to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur as his reason.

George Bush, the US president, said last night he would go to the OIympics, but added that the Chinese could “do more” to help in Darfur.

Asked if he supported Spielberg’s move, Mr Bush said: “I view the Olympics as a sporting event. On the other hand, I have a different platform to Steven Spielberg, so I get to talk to Hu Jintao [the Chinese president] and I do remind him he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur.”

Mr Bush added: “I’m not going to use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way because I do it all the time with the president.”

He added that he made a “seminal decision” when he chose not to commit US troops to Darfur.

Tessa Jowell, the Olympics minister, also waded into the row yesterday, saying it was the right time to pressure China to do more.

“I certainly think that it is reasonable to use this window between now and the start of the Olympic Games in August, when the eyes of the world will be on China, to increase pressure for China to act as a responsible global citizen in relation to Darfur and its relationship with Sudan,” she said.

William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, called for Gordon Brown’s government to show more courage in tackling the crisis in Darfur.

In an article for website conservativehome.co.uk, Mr Hague said that in the seven months since he became Prime Minister Mr Brown seemed to have “forgotten” his pledge to put the troubled Sudanese province at the top of his foreign affairs agenda.

And he noted that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, did not mention Darfur in his high-profile speech on humanitarian intervention in Oxford earlier this week.

Mr Hague wrote: “Now is not the time for forgetting. It’s the time for swift, decisive and resolute action.

“The British government cannot do it all alone. China must also dramatically step up its efforts to stop this slaughter.

“We are not advocating a boycott of the Olympics, or using sport as a political weapon, but China could make a change.”

Fighting between government-backed militia and rebels in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and left an estimated 2.5 million displaced.

China has influence in Sudan because it buys two-thirds of the country’s oil exports while selling it arms and defending Khartoum before the UN Security Council.