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 Re: A letter from the world's Nobel laureates to China: You must act on Darfur (Re: Mohamed Omer)
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Bush rules out an Olympic boycott
Independent.co.uk
By Rupert Cornwell
Friday, 15 February 2008
The strains were evident in Beijing's claim yesterday that "ulterior motives" were at play behind the withdrawal of the Hollywood director Steven Spielberg as an artistic adviser for the Games, which begin on 8 August, in protest at China's policy on Darfur. Spielberg's move came just days after two more spy cases, to add to the long series of such controversies between the two countries
But while rhetoric may sharpen in the coming months, in the heat of the presidential campaign and as the Olympics approach, President Bush ruled out an official boycott of the Games, which he is scheduled to attend. "I'm going to the Olympics. I view them as a sporting event," he told the BBC, adding, however, that he would meet Hu Jintao, the Chinese President, and "remind him that he can do more to relieve the suffering in Darfur"
Specialists on US-China relations said current frictions should not be exaggerated. "Steven Spielberg is just a private citizen," said Jeffrey Bader, the National Security Council director for Asian affairs at the Clinton White House, and now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
"What he said will add to the pressures on China over Darfur, which is no bad thing. But a stampede in that direction? I don't think so."
In fact, for all the outrage over Darfur, there has been no talk here of a US boycott of the 2008 Games to match 1980, when President Carter ordered a US boycott of the Moscow Games that year in retaliation for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan
Nor have the spy cases generated much anger – in good measure because such incidents are so common. "In the last six months, we have filed charges in half a dozen cases," said a senior US Justice Department official this week
More broadly, Washington has a host of reasons to avoid a showdown that would upset what is the world's most important geostrategic relationship. On the diplomatic front, China is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, whose co-operation is essential not only for strong UN action on Darfur, but also to keep up the diplomatic pressure on Iran over its uranium enrichment programme
Any dislocation of trade and financial ties could be more damaging still. If Beijing decided to dump a significant part of its US dollar reserves, it would depress the currency, boost inflation and possibly force a rise in US interest rates, just as recession looms
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Mohamed Omer
فيس بوك
تويتر
انستقرام
يوتيوب
بنتيريست