Special report:
2008 Olympic
Games
BEIJING, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- China said here Thursday it
strongly opposes the practice of using the Olympic Games to hype political
issues such as Darfur, saying it is in fact destroying and disturbing the
preparation works of Olympic Games.
"It is of apparent political intention and purpose to
link the Darfur issue with the Olympics," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu
told a routine press conference. "Such practice violates the Olympic spirit and
principle, and will never succeed."
China is firmly opposed to those persons or
organizations who hype particular issues in the name of the Olympics, said Jiang
in response to the question that whether China would put more pressure on Sudan
as someone considered China's continued support for the regime in Sudan could
tarnish the Olympics.
China will never, ever accept those accusations, said
Jiang, adding that international society knows very well that China has exerted
a positive and constructive influence on the Darfur issue.
"I don't know whether those organizations know
China's role on the issue and the current situation in the Darfur region," she
said.
China has been the first country to promise and then
to dispatch soldiers to participate in peacekeeping missions in Darfur.
A 140-strong advance troop of a Chinese engineering
unit has arrived in Darfur, and the unit is gradually being deployed.
The political process and peacekeeping deployment in
Darfur has achieved progress under the joint efforts of all concerned parties,
Jiang said.
China always maintains that a "double track" strategy
-- a balanced combination of political process and the peacekeeping mission
should be applied in resolving the Darfur issue, she said.
China also supports taking advantage of the leading
role of the Sudanese government, UN and AU (African Union) negotiation
mechanism.
Meanwhile, various difficulties may arise during the
process of the deployment of any UN-AU hybrid-mission peacekeeping missions.
Jiang called for all concerned parties to increase
cooperation so as to resolve related issues through coordination.
"China will continue to play a constructive role in
pushing forward a proper settlement of the Darfur issue," Jiang said.
Spokeswoman: China opposes
politicization of Olympics
BEIJING, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- China opposes any actions
trying to politicize the Olympic Games, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang
Yu at a regular press conference.
The Olympic Games is a sport gala for the whole world
and the Chinese government is carefully fulfilling its commitment in the
preparation of the Games, Jiang said.
"However, at this moment, a few organizations are
attaching some topics to the Olympic Games to slur China's image and to put
pressure on the Chinese government. Their purposes are unspeakable and they
can't succeed, because they are against the Olympic spirit," said
Jiang. Full story
