Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, right, tours the construction site of Beijing's National Stadium with Chinese film maker Zhang Yimou, center, and Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, after a news conference announcing the creation team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing April 16, 2006. Rights groups on Wednesday Feb 13, 2008 praised Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's announcement that he would shun involvement with the Beijing Olympics opening and closing ceremonies because China was not doing enough to help end the crisis in Darfur. (AP Photo/Color China Photo)
China: Criticism of Sudan Actions Wrong
BEIJING (AP) — China said Thursday that "ulterior" motives were behind some criticism of its actions in Sudan, and the problems there should not be linked with this summer's Olympics in Beijing.
The comments from Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao came a day after director Steven Spielberg's decision to drop out as an Olympics adviser on human rights grounds.
"It is understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but I am afraid that some people may have ulterior motives, and this we cannot accept," Liu said.
The Hollywood heavyweight had been brought in as an artistic adviser to the opening and closing ceremonies for the Beijing Games, but said he will not participate because he felt China wasn't doing enough to pressure Sudan into ending the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region.
Chinese officials have consistently said they opposed any attempt to "politicize" the Olympics, which begin Aug. 8.
Liu said China was working with the United Nations to resolve the crisis and providing aid to Sudan.
"China is also concerned about the humanitarian issues there, but we have been playing a positive and constructive role in promoting peace in Darfur," he added.
Spielberg had indicated as early as last August that he might not take part in the ceremonies. The director said he had given up hope that China would take a more aggressive approach toward Sudan.
Fighting between government-backed militia and rebels in Darfur has killed more than 200,000 people and left an estimated 2.5 million displaced since 2003.
China is believed to have special influence with the Islamic regime because it buys two-thirds of the country's oil exports while selling it weapons and defending Khartoum in the U.N. Security Council.
"While China's representatives have conveyed to me that they are working to end the terrible tragedy in Darfur, the grim realities of the suffering continue unabated," Spielberg said in a statement Tuesday.
Beijing has invested billions of dollars and its national prestige into what it hopes will be a glorious showcase of China's rapid development from impoverished agrarian nation to rising industrial power.
Yet it has been unable to turn back a rising tide of negative global opinion that joins concerns over the city's notorious pollution, snarled traffic and displacement of people for the construction of Olympic venues.
In recent days, the U.S. Congress and a coalition of Nobel Peace Prize winners, politicians and elite athletes have also lobbied Beijing over Darfur.
Actress Mia Farrow and other activists delivered an open letter addressed to Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Chinese Mission to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.
Steven Spielberg in 1999.
Beijing National Stadium, where the opening ceremonies will take place.
On Wednesday, United States film director Steven Spielberg withdrew from his position as artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. "Conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," he said.

"Sudan's government bears the bulk of the responsibility for these ongoing crimes but the international community, and particularly China, should be doing more to end the continuing human suffering there," Spielberg's statement said. "China's economic, military and diplomatic ties to the government of Sudan continue to provide it with the opportunity and obligation to press for change."

China immediately expressed regret over his decision and suggested that "ulterior motives" may be at play. "It is understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but I am afraid that some people may have ulterior motives, and this we cannot accept. ... China is also concerned about the humanitarian situation in Darfur. But empty rhetoric will not help. We hope that relevant people will be more pragmatic," said Liu Jianchao, the Deputy-Director General of the Information Department in China's foreign ministry.

Following Spielberg's withdrawal, other organizations called for boycott of the Games. However, United Kingdom Minister for the Olympics Tessa Jowell rejected such calls. "The world has known for the last seven years that Beijing would host the Olympics," Jowell told ''The Times''. "Most progressive governments accept that there are wholly unacceptable aspects of Chinese policy, but that did not stop the International Olympic Committee awarding them the games. A call for a boycott doesn't serve any purpose and it would be a great pity. This doesn't mean, however, we should be distracted from the urgency of Darfur."

"China is also concerned about the humanitarian issues there, but we have been playing a positive and constructive role in promoting peace in Darfur," Liu said, adding that China is working with the United Nations to provide aid and resolve the crisis.

Critics of China contend that China supports the Islamic regime in Sudan because it buys two-thirds of the country's oil exports and also sells it weapons. Further, China has been defending the government in Khartoum in the United Nations Security Council. Since 2003, fighting between government-backed militia and rebels in Darfur has led to the death of more than 200,000 people and displaced some 2.5 million others.

Meanwhile, United States President George W. Bush confirmed that he still plans to attend the Games in Beijing. "I view the Olympics as a sporting event. On the other hand, I have a different platform to Steven Spielberg, so I get to talk to Hu Jintao President of China and I do remind him he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur."

Bush followed this by saying: "I’m not going to use the Olympics as an opportunity to express my opinions to the Chinese people in a public way because I do it all the time with the president."