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By Reps. Andrew Romanoff and Rob Witwer

One World, One Dream.

The slogan China chose for the 2008 Olympic Games rings hollow half a world away. Murder, rape and torture have ravaged the Darfur region of western Sudan — a nightmare from which hundreds of thousands of victims will never recover.

The Sudanese government is responsible for this genocide. And until recently, Khartoum could count on tacit support — and an official policy of “non-interference” — from its leading trade partner, arms provider, and diplomatic ally: the People’s Republic of China.

Desperate to put a better face on its human-rights record, China is now trumpeting its efforts to help bring peace to Sudan. Behind the scenes, however, Beijing’s actions have not matched its rhetoric.

China altered its approach to Sudan only under intense international pressure. As president of the United Nations Security Council, China played a key role in pushing through Resolution 1769 — which authorizes a hybrid U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force to be deployed to Darfur — and in getting Sudanese officials to agree to it. But China refused to vote for the resolution until it had been significantly weakened. China withdrew language imposing sanctions if Sudan refused to cooperate. And China neutered the peacekeepers’ ability to seize and dispose of weapons discovered in Darfur.

While calling for peace, China has routinely defended the Sudanese regime in its attempts to sanitize accounts of the genocide. Undisputed reports from Darfur trace civilian deaths straight back to Khartoum, yet China has persisted in attributing the violence to occasional highway banditry and crime. Even as eyewitnesses described the disintegration of conditions in Darfur, China claimed the region was “basically stable.”

A special relationship with Sudan puts China in a unique position to effect change. If Beijing means what it now says about human rights, it will:

Increase humanitarian aid to Darfuri refugee camps.

Suspend the sales of arms to Sudan until a peace process has succeeded and the violence has abated.

Make it clear to Sudanese officials that there will be no “business as usual” until Khartoum cooperates with international demands.

Publicly acknowledge the mass killings and human suffering that have torn Darfur apart.

After the Holocaust, the world said, “Never again.” If we believe those words, we will speak out not only against those who perpetrate genocide but also against those who enable it.

Andrew Romanoff is the Speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives and is a Democrat who represents Denver and Arapahoe counties. Rob Witwer is a Republican who represents Jefferson County. Romanoff sponsored, and Witwer co-sponsored, 2007 legislation in the General Assembly divesting Colorado funds from Sudan.

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