By John Ruwitch BEIJING, July 19 (Reuters) - Sudan's first vice president said on Thursday U.S. officials had applauded China's latest moves over the Darfur crisis and that this could boost Beijing's image ahead of the Olympics. Under sustained international pressure, Sudan agreed last month to a combined U.N.-AU peacekeeping force to bolster the cash-strapped AU force already operating in Darfur. China, a huge investor in Sudan's oil sector, had previously blocked sending U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur without Khartoum's consent, but agreed to supply some 275 troops to the joint U.N.-AU force. "The Americans are happy that in the last talks about Darfur when these hybrid operations were agreed upon, China played a very positive role in that, and that was acknowledged with appreciation by the Americans," Sudan's first vice president Salva Kiir said. A Sudanese official later identified the Americans as diplomats. "The message they gave me was that if you are going to China you tell them to move to that positive direction and they will not hear our voice condemning the Olympics issue in China next year," he said. "But if they don't cooperate with us in getting a solution to the Darfur conflict, then we will continue to do the same to them." Kiir said he passed that message to Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong, whom he met on Wednesday. "When I gave the message to the vice president I said 'your friends, the Americans are saying this thing', and he was laughing," Kiir said. "I think I used the wrong word." Rights groups have said next year's Olympics could be tarnished if Beijing does not apply more pressure on Sudan over Darfur. In turn, China has warned that attempts to link its role in Sudan with the Olympics are doomed to failure, and said it has been responsible when it comes to Darfur. International experts estimate that some 200,000 people have died in Darfur and 2.5 million forced out of their homes since violence flared in 2003. Khartoum puts the death toll at 9,000 and blames Western media for exaggerating the conflict.
