Can someone explain?

There's a news feed on my email, and this caught my eye.

"Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's decision to quit the Beijing Olympics over the Darfur crisis is drawing condemnation by China's state-controlled media and a groundswell of criticism from the Chinese public."

Initially I thought Mr S was due to run in the 100m, but realised that this wasn't the case, take your pick for the story. It's left me with a few thoughts:

1) Nice one to Mr S for withdrawing and bringing greater attention to the Dafur situation.

2) It's not (sadly) just Dafur the world media should be talking about.

What about Tibet, or indeed the Chinese track record of failing to respect basic human rights in their own country? It has always seemed strange, if not terrifying, that the Olympic committee ever took a bid from China seriously, as this seems to contradict the basic mission statement of the games, as stated on the official site "The Games have always brought people together in peace to respect universal moral principles."

3) But. Can anyone explain, why an American film director was involved with the Chinese opening ceremony in the first place?