'Genocide Olympics' shame China

FOR the past two years, China has protected the Sudanese government as the United States and Britain have pushed for UN Security Council sanctions against Khartoum for the violence in Darfur.

But the past week has seen a major shift in Beijing's stance. A senior Chinese official, Zhai Jun, travelled to Sudan to push the government to accept a UN peacekeeping force. Zhai even went all the way to Darfur and toured three refugee camps, a rare event for a high-ranking official from China, which has extensive business and oil ties to Sudan and generally avoids telling other countries how to conduct their internal affairs.

The credit goes to Hollywood - Mia Farrow and Steven Spielberg in particular. Just when it seemed safe to buy a plane ticket to Beijing for the 2008 Olympic Games, nongovernmental organisations and other groups appear to have scored a surprising success in an effort to link the Olympics, which the Chinese government holds very dear, to the killings in Darfur, which until recently Beijing had not seemed too concerned about.

Farrow, a UN goodwill ambassador, has played a crucial role, starting a campaign to label the games in Beijing the "Genocide Olympics" and calling on corporate sponsors and even on Spielberg, who is an artistic adviser to China for the games, to publicly exhort China to do something about Darfur. In an article in the Wall Street Journal, Farrow warned Spielberg that he could "go down in history as the Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing games", referring to a German filmmaker who shot Nazi propaganda.

Four days later, Spielberg sent a letter to President Hu Jintao of China, condemning the killings in Darfur and asking China to use its influence in the region "to bring an end to the human suffering there", according to Spielberg's spokesman, Marvin Levy. Soon after, China sent Zhai.

Groups focusing on many issues, including Tibet and human rights, have called for boycotts of the games next year. But none of those issues have packed the punch of Darfur, where at least 200,000 people - some say as many as 400,000 - mostly non-Arab men, women and children, have died and 2.5 million have been displaced.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan has repeatedly refused American, African and European demands that he allow a UN peacekeeping force to supplement an under-equipped and besieged African Union force of 7,000 soldiers who have been trying to restore order in Darfur and wrest control from the Janjaweed, government-backed militias who have unleashed terror attacks.

Whatever ingredient went into the decision for him to go, I'm so pleased that he went," Farrow said about Zhai's trip. She called the response from Beijing "extraordinary".

In describing Spielberg's decision to write directly to the Chinese leader, the filmmaker's spokesman said it was "only recently that he became aware of China's involvement there".

During a news conference last week, Zhai called activists who want to boycott the games "either ignorant or ill-natured". But he added: "We suggest the Sudan side show flexibility and accept [the UN peacekeepers]."

National pride in China has been surging over the Olympics, with a gigantic clock in Tiananmen Square counting down to the games, and souvenir stores sprouting all over with the 'One World, One Dream' Beijing Olympics motto.

In public, officials of President George Bush's administration officials have been restrained in welcoming China's new diplomatic zeal. But the special envoy to Sudan told a Senate panel last week: "I think they may be the crucial actors."

And there is growing concern inside China that Darfur is hurting Beijing's image. "To be seen as an ethical, rising global power - that's their goal," said J Stephen Morrison, a Sudan expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. "Their goal is not to get in bed with every sleazy government that comes up with a little oil."

It remains unclear if the Hollywood campaign will work - China has not agreed to sanctions yet. But there is also plenty of time between now and the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games next year.

Power play

China's interest in Sudan stems from its "mission to Africa", where it is wooing the continent's leaders in a bid to tap into essential resources to feed its booming economy.

In the past year China has signed energy and minerals deals with Sudan, Chad, Angola and Zimbabwe. Beijing also has construction projects in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Beijing is Khartoum's biggest foreign investor. It bought two-thirds of the country's oil - worth US$2.9bn - last year. It also sells military aircraft and arms to Khartoum and earlier this month said it would "boost military exchanges and cooperation in various sectors".

As well as its economic ties, China has been concerned about the principle of intervening in Darfur because it could lead to international scrutiny of Tibet, which it seized by force in 1950.

In Darfur, at least 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since the conflict there erupted four years ago between ethnic African rebels and the Arab-dominated central government.

The relentless bloodshed, as well as the refusal of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, below, to accept UN troops, has prompted the United States and Britain to push for tougher action against Sudan.