Word: sudan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Games boycott, for myriad reasons. Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders argued that a boycott should be considered given China's jailing of journalists. Darfur advocates Steven Spielberg, who recently withdrew as an artistic adviser to the Games, and Mia Farrow have called for a boycott because of China's Sudan links. "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual [with the Olympics]," Spielberg said in February. Burmese activists have echoed the Darfur protesters, trying to shame Beijing for its close ties to Rangoon. Even many top athletes are now mulling a boycott...
...leverage they have over China. Once a boycott is declared, activists almost surely would lose any interaction with Chinese officials, who would simply write them off. Through their pressure, Darfur advocates have in fact won private meetings with influential Chinese officials. In the past year China's stance on Sudan has undergone a major shift. From ignoring complaints about its Sudan links, China has appointed its own special envoy for Darfur and has sent aid to the peacekeeping force in the conflict region. U.S. President George W. Bush's former envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, publicly praised China's stance...
China's assertion that it doesn't interfere in other countries' internal affairs has always suited the country's leaders for two reasons: it allows China to do business in places with dubious human rights records such as Sudan and Zimbabwe; and it serves as a ready "mind your own business" rebuttal to critics of Beijing's own internal policies in places such as Tibet. But as China grows more powerful, its leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to walk this laissez-faire diplomatic line. Beijing has gone along with the deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to Sudan's troubled...
...come the NBA is not targeting African countries like Sudan for prospective players? -Tarig Abdalla, Khartoum, SudanActually, we have players from Africa. We've conducted our Basketball Without Borders program there - this will be our fourth year in South Africa. We have players from the Sudan, we have players from Senegal, we've had players from Nigeria. We actually have more games available in Africa over the air, both terrestrially and by satellite, than we do in India. We just made a deal with a telephone company so that folks in Africa can see the NBA on their cell phones...
...Sudan's killing fields have grown. Fighting along Darfur's western border has spilled into Chad, where a separate civil war is brewing, and rebel attacks against Chinese-run oil fields and Sudanese police garrisons in the neighboring region of Kordofan threaten to push the war eastward. The rebels say the attacks against China's assets are justified by Beijing's support for the Sudanese regime. But while China has since exerted some limited pressure on Khartoum to resolve its crises, the rebel raids could serve only to expand the theater of hostilities...