President Bush: Tell China to Halt Arms to Sudan

In route to the Olympic Games President Bush is giving a mixed message as to whether he will confront Chinese President Hu about China’s ongoing economic, military, and political support to the Government of Sudan. In March, Human Rights First reported that between 2003 and 2006 China was providing Sudan with some 90% of its small arms, the weapons of choice for government sponsored militia in Darfur, called Janjaweed, who carry out much of the killing, raping, maiming, and forced displacement of civilians in Darfur.

Michael Abramowitz of the Washington Post reports that yesterday during an interview with Mr. Bush onboard Air Force One the President said that Beijing should be doing more to pressure the Government of Sudan to stop the killing in Darfur. But Paula Wolfson of Voice of America also reports that yesterday Mr. Bush was pushing back on talking politics at the Olympic Games saying “I view the Olympics as an opportunity for me to cheer on our athletes. It’s an athletic event.”

Human Rights First does not believe Mr. Bush should get a free pass on confronting China about its arms to Sudan while he is visiting Beijing for the Olympics. After all, while Mr. Bush is taking in sports, millions of Darfuris continue to suffer due to the ongoing violence in the region, which is propelled in part by the continuous access to weapons that parties to the conflict have. You can urge Mr. Bush to use his trip to the Olympics to insist that China halts all of its arms sales to Sudan by taking action here.