[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H4556-H4557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CHINA AND THE 2008 OLYMPICS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. I thank the gentlelady.
  I want Members to see an editorial that was in the Wall Street 
Journal by Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow entitled ``The Genocide 
Olympics.''
  It deals with the issue that there was a full page ad today in The 
Washington Post with regard to the genocide that is taking place in 
Sudan, and the one country that has the opportunity to really make a 
difference to stop the genocide in Sudan is the country of China.
  Mia Farrow says in this editorial, ``One World, One Dream is China's 
slogan for the 2008 Olympics. But there is one nightmare that China 
shouldn't be allowed to sweep under the rug. That nightmare is Darfur, 
where more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 2\1/2\ 
million driven from flaming villages by the Chinese-backed government 
of Sudan.''
  I have seen those villages and the burning of the villages and we 
know that the genocide could be stopped by China.
  Mia Farrow goes on to say, ``That so many corporate sponsors want the 
world to look away from that atrocity during the games is bad enough. 
But equally disappointing is the decision of artists like director 
Steven Spielberg, who quietly visited China this month as he prepares 
to help stage the Olympic ceremonies, to sanitize Beijing's image.'' 
Steven Spielberg, who produced Schindler's List, is now going to try to 
turn the 2008 Olympics in China to look like a wonderful, wonderful 
thing.
  China is involved in Sudan where they have Antonov bombers bombing 
the people, helicopters coming in and killing the people, and the 
Janjaweed who come in and do all sorts of bad things--kill, rape and 
maim. And China has used its veto power, Mia Farrow says, on the U.N. 
Security Council to repeatedly obstruct efforts by the U.S. and the 
U.K. to introduce peacekeepers to curtail the slaughter. Beijing, she 
says, is uniquely positioned to put a stop to the slaughter, yet they 
have so far been unabashed in their refusal to do so.
  Now, there are some people saying that maybe--maybe--the 2008 
Olympics ought to be boycotted. Now, how will you feel, watching or 
going to the 2008 Olympics and knowing that the country that is doing 
that could stop the genocide in Darfur?
  And so I would urge that if China does not deal with the issue, then 
the sponsors, but also the people from the West, certainly ought not 
encourage China to say that we don't care, therefore, we're going to go 
to your Olympics when Mia Farrow calls it ``the Genocide Olympics.''
  And then she says some other very tough things about Spielberg. Does 
he really want to be this? I mean, the Chinese are in essence doing 
what the Nazis did in the Olympics in the thirties, cleaning the 
streets and changing things.
  China has the ability to stop the genocide that is taking place in 
Sudan, and I think everyone should do everything they can. This 
administration should do more and everyone in the Congress should do 
more, that if China doesn't use its leverage in the U.N. and allow the 
Security Council to pass a resolution allowing the end to come out with 
regard to U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur, then I believe that Mia Farrow 
and those who are concerned and are considering boycotting the Olympics 
will be right. This is a test for China.
  Now, the Chinese Embassy is working this Hill aggressively. The 
Chinese Embassy will be working the administration. The Chinese Embassy 
will be working powerful governments around the world. But as long as 
the genocide continues in Darfur where 400,000 people have died, 2.1 
million are living in refugee camps, knowing that China has the ability 
to stop what it mentions on

[[Page H4557]]

page A-18 in the Washington Post today in this editorial to stop this, 
then if China is not prepared to use their leverage to stop the 
genocide, then quite frankly I think Mia Farrow's title of calling this 
``the Genocide Olympics'' will be true and no one should attend those 
Olympics.

                       The ``Genocide Olympics''

                    (By Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow)

       ``One World, One Dream'' is China's slogan for its 2008 
     Olympics. But there is one nightmare that China shouldn't be 
     allowed to sweep under the rug. That nightmare is Darfur, 
     where more than 400,000 people have been killed and more than 
     two-and-a-half million driven from flaming villages by the 
     Chinese-backed government of Sudan.
       That so many corporate sponsors want the world to look away 
     from that atrocity during the games is bad enough. But 
     equally disappointing is the decision of artists like 
     director Steven Spielberg--who quietly visited China this 
     month as he prepares to help stage the Olympic ceremonies--to 
     sanitize Beijing's image. Is Mr. Spielberg, who in 1994 
     founded the Shoah Foundation to record the testimony of 
     survivors of the holocaust, aware that China is bankrolling 
     Darfur's genocide?
       China is pouring billions of dollars into Sudan. Beijing 
     purchases an overwhelming majority of Sudan's annual oil 
     exports and state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.--an 
     official partner of the upcoming Olympic Games--owns the 
     largest shares in each of Sudan's two major oil consortia. 
     The Sudanese government uses as much as 80% of proceeds from 
     those sales to fund its brutal Janjaweed proxy militia and 
     purchase their instruments of destruction: bombers, assault 
     helicopters, armored vehicles and small arms, most of them of 
     Chinese manufacture. Airstrips constructed and operated by 
     the Chinese have been used to launch bombing campaigns on 
     villages. And China has used its veto power on the U.N. 
     Security Council to repeatedly obstruct efforts by the U.S. 
     and the U.K. to introduce peacekeepers to curtail the 
     slaughter.
       As one of the few players whose support is indispensable to 
     Sudan, China has the power to, at the very least, insist that 
     Khartoum accept a robust international peacekeeping force to 
     protect defenseless civilians in Darfur. Beijing is uniquely 
     positioned to put a stop to the slaughter, yet they have so 
     far been unabashed in their refusal to do so.
       But there is now one thing that China may hold more dear 
     than their unfettered access to Sudanese oil: their 
     successful staging of the 2008 Summer Olympics. that desire 
     may provide a lone point of leverage with a country that has 
     otherwise been impervious to all criticism.
       Whether that opportunity goes unexploited lies in the hands 
     of the high-profile supporters of these Olympic Games. 
     Corporate sponsors like Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, General 
     Electric and McDonalds, and key collaborators like Mr. 
     Spielberg, should be put on notice. For there is another 
     slogan afoot, one that is fast becoming viral amongst 
     advocacy groups; rather than ``One World, One Dream,'' people 
     are beginning to speak of the coming ``Genocide Olympics.''
       Does Mr. Spielberg really want to go down in history as the 
     Leni Riefenstahl of the Beijing Games? Do the various 
     television sponsors around the world want to share in that 
     shame? Because they will. Unless, of course, all of them add 
     their singularly well-positioned voices to the growing calls 
     for Chinese action to end the slaughter in Darfur.
       Imagine if such calls were to succeed in pushing the 
     Chinese government to use its leverage over Sudan to protect 
     civilians in Darfur. The 2008 Beijing Olympics really could 
     become an occasion for pride and celebration, a truly 
     international honoring of the authentic spirit of ``one 
     world'' and ``one dream.''

                          ____________________