Posted on 05/18/2007 11:55:25 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
BEIJING - China on Friday rejected growing criticism it is not wielding its influence with Sudan to stop bloodshed in the Darfur region and said attempts to use the conflict to politicize Beijing's Olympic Games will fail.
As one of the U.N. Security Council's five veto-holding permanent members, China has blocked efforts to send U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur without Sudanese consent, angering those who want more done to quell four years of fighting in the vast western part of the African nation.
China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports and sells its government weapons and military aircraft, and those ties are becoming a liability as Beijing tries to portray itself as a responsible power while welcoming the world to the 2008 Olympics, a source of national pride.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi lashed out at groups trying to use threats of a Summer Games boycott to pressure Beijing to do more to stop the violence.
"There are a handful of people who are trying to politicize the Olympic Games," Yang said in a meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett. "Their objectives ... will never be attained," he said.
More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced from their homes in Darfur since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms in February 2003, charging decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. Sudanese authorities responded by unleashing both the military and government-backed militias.
On Wednesday, U.S. lawmakers introduced a resolution that would call on China to use its economic leverage with Sudan to stop the violence. The measure, sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans, urges China to press Sudan to allow the entry of a U.N. peacekeeping force and to disarm militias in Darfur.
The action came days after a group of U.S. representatives sent a letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao suggesting that unless China changes its policies in Sudan, the 2008 Summer Games could become a public relations disaster for Beijing.
French politicians floated the idea of an Olympic boycott during their country's recent presidential race, and actress Mia Farrow and others are pushing corporate sponsors of the Games to pressure Beijing to do more.
Beijing has taken some steps indicating an attempt to persuade the Khartoum regime to change tack.
While visiting Sudan in February, Hu urged President Omar al-Bashir to give the United Nations a greater role in trying to resolve the conflict, a rare public pronouncement contrary to China's traditional refusal to interfere in what it considers other nations' internal affairs.
Last week, Beijing announced it had appointed a special representative on African affairs to focus on the Sudan issue and said it would send engineers to support a small force of U.N. peacekeepers that Sudan has agreed to.
Yang, the foreign minister, said China would continue to keep in "close touch and contact with relevant parties concerned" because it desires an end to the Darfur conflict.
But he said efforts to bring in peacekeepers should be pursued in "a balanced manner" through a political process.
"We hope that this issue will be resolved properly through dialogue and negotiation," he said.
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On the Net:
Campaign pressuring China: http://www.dreamfordarfur.org
Campaign pressuring China:
http://www.dreamfordarfur.org
Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, left, shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Beijing on Friday May 18, 2007. Beckett called on China to step up freedom of information and government accountability, saying in a speech Thursday the changes would bring stability to the country. Beckett arrived in the Chinese capital Wednesday for a six-day official visit. (AP Photo/Jason Lee, POOL)
Pushy little turds these chi-coms are.
Just look at Nepal.
Sorry, but those are two of the goofiest people I have seen in one picture.
I think he became sensitive about the comparisons to Leni Riefenstahl.
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