China staunchly opposes the linkage between the Olympic Games and the Darfur issue, said Liu Guijin, the Chinese government's special representative for Darfur, on Tuesday.

"The Olympic Games and (the issue of) Darfur are totally irrelevant," Liu told reporters at the UN Headquarters.

Non-politicization is one of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Games, which is a great event to be hosted by China for the people around the world, he said.

China staunchly opposes the linkage between the Olympic Games and the Darfur issue, but at the same time "we are not afraid that some people might try to link these two events because they will never be able to achieve," he said.

"We are very confident that we will be able to have a very good and very high-level Olympic Games," the Chinese envoy added.

(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2007)