What China wants is the esteem of the wider world as a peacefully rising power. Chinese President Hu Jintao is doing what Adolf Hitler did shortly after Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The world withheld respect to the Nazis, but refrained from linking the Olympics to foreign policy issues just to snub Germany. That does not mean the world should condone what is going on in Darfur, though.

No one disputes that the Olympics are, at heart, a sporting competition. They shouldn’t be turned into a political forum. Instead of threatening to boycott the Beijing Olympics, the world should try to make China realize clearly and without any doubt that the esteem it wants will be withheld until after the Darfur issue is solved. The United Nations cannot take any action to solve that issue now, but China has to do something to save the situation. At least, it has to acquiesce to a Security Council resolution to get the Arab League to take up peace-keeping duty in Darfur. Sudan is an Arab country. Its problem is an Arab problem.

All 21 member states of the league, with a mandate and support from the United Nations, can work together to help end the human misery in Darfur. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization assisted in keeping peace in Sarajevo and Kosovo. There is no reason why the Arab League shouldn’t do the same to restore peace in Sudan.

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