Olympic Politics
May 31, 2007
China Daily, the state-run English language paper of China, provides more comprehensive information about the upcoming 2008 Olympics than the average reader would 
ever want.
You can read about the Olympic song that's climbing the online music charts, or voice your opinion about the Olympic torch design or relay route on one of the online message boards. You can even link to The Olympian, a weekly publication devoted to the Games.
So amidst all of the patriotic Olympic fervor, I was surprised to see this ad in China Daily. Granted, an ad for a new CD seems pretty innocuous, except in this case, the Instant Karma CD, has been put out by Amnesty International. Proceeds from the CD will go towards preventing genocide in Darfur.
Amnesty International has been a very vocal critic of Beijing hosting the Olympic Games because of its relationship Sudan. In March Amnesty International even organized protests at Chinese consulates and embassies worldwide because of China's policies in Darfur.
So why, other than economic reasons would China Daily give Amnesty International an advertising block on its webpage?
Amnesty International is hardly the only critic of China's relationship with Sudan, but Chinese leaders have consistently defended their relationship with Darfur. Chinese officials say their relationship with Sudan, including $10 million in aid, has helped develop the country's infrastructure and development. Critics say China's funneling money to a government responsible for genocide.
This Tuesday, President Bush announced a U.S.-drafted U.N. resolution to increase sanctions against Sudan, which has most of the international community's support. Naturally, China opposed this decision, hoping to use other diplomatic measures to create peace.
Despite these criticisms of the proposed resolution, in recent months China has taken a harsher stance against Sudan than in the past, though not without some outside pressure.
In March, actress/activist
Mia Farrow wrote a Wall Street Journal editorial called
"The Genocide Olympics" in which Farrow urged a boycott of the Games on account of their policy in Sudan. She also criticized Steven Spielberg, who's helping direct the Game's Opening Ceremonies.
Spielberg subsequently wrote China's President Hu Jintao to use China's influence to promote peace in Sudan, and by mid-April, China had sent an envoy to encourage the country towards peace.
Many say that China still hasn't gone far enough, but the Chinese government maintains that their involvement in Darfur has been helpful to its people, and they make no apologies.
In an odd way, using their state-controlled webpage to advertise the "Instant Karma" CD to "Save Darfur" the Chinese government is appeasing some of their critics. By this product placement, the Chinese government is implicitly distancing itself from some of the international criticism of its involvement with Sudan. The CD is raising money to help the Darfur victims, and by placing it on the webpage, China Daily is indirectly doing the same.
On the other hand, Amnesty International, by placing spending money to advertise on China Daily, could also be encouraging the situation it wishes to prevent. It's giving money to the Chinese government, which in turn could be used to buy Sudanese oil, which would further the work of the government.
More importantly, the Amnesty ad also accomplished another purpose: to generate healthy thought and debate on the connections between China and Sudan. With only one year until the Olympics, I have a feeling this won't be the last of this controversy.
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