By IPS Correspondents
BEIJING, Jul 29 2007 (IPS)

Elaborate celebrations are being planned for the Aug. 8 one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympics, but Chinese leaders fear both the party and the games could be spoiled by an escalating international campaign to link the violence in Sudan's Darfur region to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China is fiercely proud of its Olympics, seen by many here as the country's coming-out party to the world. Its brightest talent has been pooled to work on the preparations, ensuring they showcase the rise and prowess of a nation both ancient and young.

But recent months have seen mounting international criticism of China's supportive stance toward Sudan, resulting in publicity campaigns to discredit and even boycott the games. Detractors charge that Beijing's dealings with the oil-rich state have shielded Sudan's leaders, who are accused of funding Arab militias to attack and terrorise the non-Arab population in Darfur.

Experts estimate that more than 250,000 people have died and 2.5 million displaced since violence between the non-Arab ethnic groups and the Janjaweed militia broke in 2003. U.S. actor Mia Farrow and other U.S. entertainment figures have pointed fingers at China as Sudan's largest foreign investor and energy partner for refusing to censure the violence and have said the 2008 games could become known as the "Genocide Olympics".

In the latest upset for Beijing, Hollywood's celebrated director Steven Spielberg has warned he is considering resigning his position as artistic adviser to the 2008 Olympic Games unless China did more to stop the bloodshed in Darfur.

The warning comes as the United Nations Security Council is preparing to adopt a Darfur resolution this week seeking to speed up the dispatch of a "hybrid" UN and African Union peacekeeping force. As a permanent member of the Security Council with veto-yielding power, China's role in passing the document is crucial.

China, a close ally and diplomatic protector of Khartoum, has backed Sudan's demands to retain control over the force. Beijing advocates a non-confrontational policy of conflict-resolution and non-interference in internal affairs of other countries.

But Chinese leaders are aware of the potential public relations fallout of their Sudan policies. Beijing reacted swiftly to Spielberg's reprimand of non-action and defended its diplomacy in Sudan.

Last Friday, China's special envoy on Darfur gave an interview to the official China daily newspaper, urging patience on the Darfur issue and warning that coercion and confrontation "will lead us nowhere".

The special envoy, China's first for Darfur, was appointed in May this year, in apparent reaction to international criticism of Beijing's role in Sudan. Liu Guijin used the interview to emphasise that the conflict was a diplomatic priority for China but not one of its responsibilities.

"It is not China's Darfur, it is first Sudan's Darfur and then Africa's Darfur," Liu said.

All along China has blamed poverty for the conflict and defended its large investments as the only viable way to quell the violence. China buys two-third of Sudan's oil exports and is supporting numerous infrastructure projects in the country, including a pipeline, a super tanker terminal and a hydropower dam.

Earlier this year Beijing rebuked demands by human rights campaigners who say isolating the Khartoum government is the only way to stop militias blamed for mass killings and rapes.

"Chinese aid and investment will, in the long run, help in the resolution of the Darfur problem," Li Ruogu, chairman of the state-owned China Exim Bank, which handles most of the country's overseas loans, said in May. He was speaking at the African development Bank annual meeting held in Shanghai.

China angrily rejects the link of Darfur violence to its hosting of the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a demonstration of Cold war mentality. Defending Beijing 's political backing for Khartoum, Liu Guijin stressed that China does diplomacy in its own way, shunning strong-arm tactics and aiming for a subtler, more respectful approach.

"China insists on using influence without interference, and we know respect for all the parties is vital to finding a solution," Liu told the China Daily.

Others too, have defended Beijing's cautious, behind-the-scenes diplomacy. U.S. special Darfur representative Andrew Natsios, admitted in April that China's diplomacy might have been the "critical factor" in persuading Khartoum to accept a "heavy-support package" for the beleaguered 7,000 African Union force in Darfur.

Still, many critics say China can do more to quell the violence.

Oscar-winning director Spielberg wrote a letter to Chinese president Hu Jintao in May, imploring China to do something about Darfur. Spielberg's spokesman, Andy Spahn told the ABC News last week that the director was considering "all options", including quitting his role in the Olympics preparations, with his decision depending on an expected statement of policy on Darfur from Beijing.

A group of 108 members of the U.S. House of representatives has also sent a letter to the Chinese government, warning that the Beijing Olympics could be endangered if China did not change its polices in Sudan.

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