China has this week gone on a diplomatic offensive to persuade western public opinion that it is working hard to try to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, suggesting claims that Beijing is a major arms exporter to Sudan are an “exaggeration.“

In the aftermath of Steven Spielberg’s decision last week to quit as an artistic director to the Beijing Olympics over China’s policy of Darfur, a senior Chinese diplomat has been in London insisting his country is doing all it can to resolve the humanitarian crisis.