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No plans for an Olympic boycott, MAC official says

China is expected to face intensified pressure from the international community before the Beijing Olympics over its support for the Sudanese government, but Taiwan so far has no plans to boycott the Games, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said on Friday.

"As the host country, China has been under tremendous pressure, but it should not shun its obligations as a member of the international community," MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said in response to a question on US film director Steven Spielberg's withdrawal as an artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics in August early last week.

Spielberg made the announcement on Tuesday after China failed to do more to end the conflict in Darfur in western Sudan that has left hundreds of thousands dead and displaced more than 2 million people.

Before Spielberg withdrew, a number of celebrities, international media watchdogs and human rights organizations had been calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics because of China's support for the Sudanese government, which has been blamed for most of the atrocities in the conflict and has used Chinese-made weapons against its enemies in Darfur.

Asked if Taiwan would consider boycotting the event, Liu said that "there have been no substantial discussions on that matter from our side."

China has been engaged in intense competition for energy and mineral products as part of its "peaceful rise," which is why it has been developing close diplomatic relations with a number of authoritarian regimes, Liu said.

The UN and other international organizations are trying to pressure China and ask it to play a more positive and responsible role in handling the Darfur situation and its own domestic human rights situation, Liu said.

"If China wants to reassure the international community about its peaceful rise, it should not merely sit by and watch -- or shield -- the injustice in front of its face," Liu said.

"By failing to change its behavior, it would make its anti-democratic attitude and lack of respect for human rights all the more obvious," he said.
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