BEIJING — When filmmaker Steven Spielberg announced last month that he was withdrawing as an artistic advisor to the 2008 Olympics over violence in Darfur, the reaction in Beijing was righteous indignation.
Organizers accused him of violating the Olympic spirit by injecting politics into the Games, while the state-run media unleashed a torrent of insults, calling him naive, vain and childish.
Now China is taking a new tack.
After its initial outburst, the Foreign Ministry has launched something of a charm offensive to convince the international community that it does indeed care about human rights. In recent weeks, Beijing has been pushing the Sudanese government to accept a peacekeeping force in its troubled Darfur region. A senior Chinese diplomat who had just returned from a trip to Sudan was trotted out Friday for a rare briefing with foreign correspondents on China's role in Sudan.
"We are using our relationship with the Sudanese government to exert leverage," said Liu Guijin at the briefing. "China has done many positive things which have been recognized by the international community."
The 62-year-old diplomat, one of the most seasoned Africa hands in the Chinese diplomatic corps, conveyed the same message in a recent swing through London and Paris on his way home from Sudan. His job appears partly to be damage control as human rights advocates around the world threaten to organize a boycott of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing because of China's close ties with the Sudanese government.
China's relationship with Sudan as that country deals with the Darfur crisis is being keenly watched as a test case of how China handles itself on the world stage, especially with regard to human rights.
"I think the Chinese, as they become a great power, are realizing that foreign policy is not simply about economics, but about world leadership. There is a gradual evolution as they step into that role," said Andrew S. Natsios, a Georgetown University professor who until recently was President Bush's special envoy on Darfur.
Natsios said the Chinese had been unfairly criticized over Darfur when in fact they have been active behind the scenes in getting the Sudanese government to make concessions.
"The Chinese don't go on moral crusades the way America does. But when you engage with them in a rational, reasonable way, they can be very helpful," Natsios said.
