China wants to ensure its access to oil and protect its large investments in foreign oil fields and oil-producing consortiums. So Ch-ina has partnered with governments that kill their own people, using its state-ow-ned companies to acquire interests in oil or natural gas reserves around the world.

When Uzbekistan’s despot Islam Karimov massacred protesters in the town of Andijan in 2005, China’s foreign ministry said it staunchly supports Uzbekistan’s “striking at the three forces, which are terrorism, splittism, and extremism.” Shortly afterward, Karimov signed a $600 million joint venture with China to develop oil fields in Uzbekistan. China also tries to justify its commercial and diplomatic partnerships with dictators such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe.

Thus far, China seems unpersuaded by the economic argument that it is a waste of money to pursue energy security by buying stakes in oil reserves in Sudan or natural gas pipelines in Burma. So the best way to deter China’s rulers from being the principal enablers of genocide in Darfur or forced labour and ethnic cleansing in Burma is to name them and shame them as often as possible. The last thing China’s rulers want is to have the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing branded with the name that many are trying to apply: the Genocide Olympics.