Boycott attempts doomed to failure, says China

BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) China's new foreign minister defended his country's record in Sudan today and said calls for a boycott of next year's Beijing Olympics were doomed to fail.

Unsuccessful French presidential candidate Segolene Royal last month made the highest profile call for a boycott of the Games to be considered if China did not shift its stance on the bloody turmoil in Darfur.

''There are a handful of people who are trying to politicise the Olympics,'' Yang Jiechi told a news conference. ''This is against the spirit of the Games.

''It also runs against the aspirations of all the people of the world, thus their aims will never be achieved.'' China is the major purchaser of oil from Sudan, where state-linked militia have been fighting rebels, causing widespread bloodshed in the Darfur region.

The United States led a boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics over the 1979 invasion of Afghanistan, with the Soviet bloc responding in kind by staying away from the Los Angeles Games four years later.

''We have provided humanitarian assistance and aid to the people of Darfur and will continue to do so in the future,'' Yang said.

REUTERS SSC PM1140