Following Steven Spielberg’s withdrawal as an artistic adviser from the Beijing Olympics yesterday, China is now being pressurized by the international community to use its influence on ally Sudan to stop atrocities in the Darfur region. This August’s showpiece event is set to be overshadowed by China’s overall human rights records and Beijing’s alliance with Sudan that is behind the horrifying atrocities in Darfur.

A letter of protest, organised by a group of Nobel laureates and international athletes, criticises the Chinese President Hu Jintao for providing unnecessary economical, political and military support to a government ‘that continues to carry out atrocities against its own people’. Many human rights activists have proposed a boycott of the Games, which to me is personally a bit too far ahead, yet, the 2008 Olympics should be used a background to highlight China’s complicity with a genocide that is unfolding in the deserts of Darfur. Sudan is an important trading partner for communist China, supplying arms and ammunitions and buying oil in return. Beijing has also threatened to veto United Nations security council resolutions imposing sanctions on Khartoum. Analysts feel any international arms and economic embargo on Sudan would be a setback for the Chinese economically as the Asian giant buys two-thirds of Sudanese oil exports mostly at highly subsidised rates.

Although China is not going to be bothered by this sort of intellectual protests, there is an indication that Beijing is concerned that the Games could be under threat from international activists who could politicise the planet’s most high-profile sporting event in August. To prevent any diplomatic mishandling, the Chinese government has appointed a special envoy to deal with Sudan and has, on occasions pressurised the Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir to accept an international peacekeeping force in the region. Darfur is not the only concern for Beijing. The preparation for the Olympics have already been hampered with some leading athletes and countries voicing their concerns about the quality of Beijing’s air pollution. But what could severely dent the mighty Asian nation’s reputation is a host of negative human rights records that the state is accused of. It is under fire over its imprisonment of dissidents, lawyers, journalists, excessive state control over the internet and persecution of unapproved religious groups.

It remains to be seen what the diplomatic stance the Chinese take over a growing opposition to the Beijing’s role in Darfur and other controversial regional matters. But the world, no doubt, would want to see a successful Olympics in the Chinese capital and maybe the Games could bring a change of heart in Chinese diplomacy in the world.

Source Link: The Independent

Image Link: Beijing2008