China says play fair over Beijing/Darfur link

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - China urged activists linking its stance over Sudan to the Beijing Olympics to play fair and rebel groups in Darfur praised the decision by film director Steven Spielberg to quit as an artistic adviser to the Games.

Spielberg said he was withdrawing his services because of China's policy on the Darfur conflict. China is accused by critics of providing diplomatic cover as Khartoum stonewalls efforts to send peacekeepers into the western region.

His conscience would not allow him to continue his work on the opening and closing ceremonies for the August Games while "unspeakable crimes" continued to be committed, Spielberg said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington, while not directly referring to Spielberg's decision, called on "relevant parties" to respect the facts about the "positive role played by China on the Darfur issue" and shy away from politicizing the Olympics.

"As the Darfur issue is neither an internal issue of China, nor is it caused by China, it is completely unreasonable, irresponsible and unfair for certain organizations and individuals to link the two as one," the embassy said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told lawmakers the filmmaker had taken his decision as a private citizen.

"I think the role of the United States is not to make judgments about who participates in the Olympics or not, but to continue to stand for the very concerns that we have for human rights and freedoms in China and to use the opportunity to continue to promote those," Rice said.

Darfur's splintered rebel groups said the move by Oscar winner Spielberg could shame Beijing, a major investor in Sudan's oil industry and the East African country's largest supplier of weapons, into changing its stance on the region.