2008 Olympics Vs Darfur crisis, a hard mission for Beijing

 By Dr.Maurice GOUNTIN

(THIS IS AN ARTCILE WRITTEN IN MARCH 2008.THOUGH  BEIJING HAS ALREADY ENTERED A POST-OLYMPIC ERA, BUT STILL IS THE ARTICLE  READABLE FOR THE VALUE OF ITS CONTENT)

There has been nothing but excitement in China since July 13, 2001, the day of the announcement in Moscow that Beijing had won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. It has inspired a nationalist spirit and a desire to hold a fair event. But increasingly forces outside the country are using the Games to pressure China to exert its diplomatic powers in ways it has never sought to do so before. For China, the Beijing Olympics is more than a sporting and logistical effort, it is an extreme diplomatic challenge.

China failed many times before it was given the privilege of organising the 2008 Olympics and many Chinese people seem to consider hosting the event to be the country’s retaliation against the outside world that to some extent, still considers China to be poor and backward.

Apart from this popular support, the Beijing organisers have the necessary financial backing. China has not suffered the economic and financial problems that the South African Republic is certainly experiencing in the leadup to the 2010 World Cup. China has been investing money and energy to make of the 2008 Beijing Olympics a great success. But not all of these without worries.

China’s traditionally sensitive issues including Taiwan, human rights and religious freedom have predictably been under close watch. But there have also been a raft of new sensitivities such as environmental pollution, the quality of “Made a China” products and – most surprisingly - the Darfur issue.

The world has known about the Darfur crisis since February, 2003, but only since the Sino-Africa Forum that brought 48 African heads of states and leaders to Beijing in November, 2006, that the West, precisely the USA and Britain, brought any attention to bear on  China’s African policy.

China is accused of backing pariah regimes in Zimbabwe and Sudan, but the Darfur crisis has especially been the main focus of criticism. The root issue is the exploitation of oil in Darfur by the non-democratically elected Sudan government.Not only China is one of the major importers of oil from Sudan but it also acknowledges selling arms to Khatoom.

With the Darfur crisis still unresolved and August 2008 approaching, the international community but mostly NGOs in the west have started a campaign to boycott the Beijing Olympics. US director Steve Spielberg resigned as artistic advisor to the Beijing Games,  spoiling China’s hopes for a politics-free Olympics and making Beijing even more nervous.

US President George W Bush and the British Foreign Secretary David Milliband have expressed their support for Beijing’s Olympics but China is still on edge about any negative comments leading up to August.

The Beijing Olympics is the country’s top priority but, at the same time, China is dying for oil to fuel its rapidly growing domestic industries. In diplomatic terms, it is facing a historically tough mission with Darfur by trying to balance the demands for action with its stated position of non-interference in the internal political affairs of other countries.

China needs to find a solution to Darfur crisis and has sought to ease the growing international pressure by rejecting calls for the politicization of the 2008 Olympics and trying to convince observers about its commitment to encouraging the parties in Sudan towards a settlement. After appointing special ambassador Guijin Liu to lead on Darfur, China, under a United Nations resolution, dispatched 140 of 315 promised peacekeepers to build basic infrastructure in Darfur.

During his February 24 visit, Ambassador Liu promised to speed up the implementation of the different assistance projects in the troubled region. In 2006, China provided US$11 million to Darfur and Chinese companies invested US$50 million in the construction of basic infrastructure such as wells, roads, hydro-power stations and classrooms.

China on its own cannot solve the Darfur crisis unless the region is granted to China as a colony, a practice that the West has a better command of but that China denies it intends to engage in. Yet, for the 2008 Olympics, Beijing has gone far from its traditional respect of non-interference.

A boycott of the Beijing Olympics will do little to solve African problems that are more complex than they appear. The Darfur crisis requires the joint efforts of the international community, but of paramount importance to ending a conflict that has already killed more than 200,000 civilians is the will and determination of the Sudanese government.

End

The author is a citizen of The Republic of Benin, holds a PhD in Contemporary China's Diplomacy at Renmin University of China, and has been in China for 10 years.)