2008 Woodie Awards
Darfur hampers Chinese efforts to promote Olympics
Carolina Den Hartog
Issue date: 3/6/08 Section: World Views
In 2001, it was decided that China would host the 2008 Olympics. The changes that Beijing has gone through in preparation for the games are astounding. China has undergone major transformations, from educating people to refrain from spitting on the sidewalks to increasing the number of English speakers everywhere. Buildings, malls, stores, restaurants and state-of-the-art stadiums have popped up overnight, making Beijing more tourist-friendly and ready to profit from the thousands of tourists expected to visit during the summer. It seems like most people would jump on the opportunity to be involved with the Olympics. However, when asked to be the artistic adviser for the opening of the event, Steven Spielberg accepted at first but then refused to sign the contract. Mia Farrow, an actress well-known to our parents, has publicly called this the "Genocide Olympics." So here's the question: Why would a country devoting so much to the Olympics be receiving such negative publicity? The answer is, of course, oil.
Many of you have heard about the terrible genocide currently taking place in Darfur. Located in the western region of Sudan, armed gunmen known as the Janjaweed have killed over 200,000 people and driven out over 2.5 million more from Darfur. It has been a diplomatic debacle for the United Nations to try to remedy the situation; several draft resolutions regarding the placement of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur have been opposed. In the Security Council, a draft resolution can be vetoed by the five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia and China); only one veto is necessary to halt the approval of a draft resolution. In the case of Darfur, China opposed draft resolutions presented by other countries during negotiations, without formally vetoing them.
The reasons behind China's stance in the Security Council are related to its position on "internal" versus "international" affairs as well as its important economic relationship with Sudan. China argued that the conflicts inside Sudan were internal affairs of the Sudanese government, which escapes the scope of the UN (it has, in principle, to do with China's concerns over Taiwan, which Beijing considers as an "internal issue": in case there's a war between mainland China and Taiwan, Beijing will not want interference from other nations as well as from the UN); moreover, China and Sudan have a trade agreement in which China buys 2/3 of Sudan's oil exports and in return provides Sudan with money and weapons. External intervention (even from the UN) might have a negative impact on the Sino-Sudanese economic ties and especially on the flow of Sudanese oil to China.
Many of you have heard about the terrible genocide currently taking place in Darfur. Located in the western region of Sudan, armed gunmen known as the Janjaweed have killed over 200,000 people and driven out over 2.5 million more from Darfur. It has been a diplomatic debacle for the United Nations to try to remedy the situation; several draft resolutions regarding the placement of U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur have been opposed. In the Security Council, a draft resolution can be vetoed by the five permanent members (US, UK, France, Russia and China); only one veto is necessary to halt the approval of a draft resolution. In the case of Darfur, China opposed draft resolutions presented by other countries during negotiations, without formally vetoing them.
The reasons behind China's stance in the Security Council are related to its position on "internal" versus "international" affairs as well as its important economic relationship with Sudan. China argued that the conflicts inside Sudan were internal affairs of the Sudanese government, which escapes the scope of the UN (it has, in principle, to do with China's concerns over Taiwan, which Beijing considers as an "internal issue": in case there's a war between mainland China and Taiwan, Beijing will not want interference from other nations as well as from the UN); moreover, China and Sudan have a trade agreement in which China buys 2/3 of Sudan's oil exports and in return provides Sudan with money and weapons. External intervention (even from the UN) might have a negative impact on the Sino-Sudanese economic ties and especially on the flow of Sudanese oil to China.
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