BEIJING, May 10 (Reuters) - China defended its approach to the strife-riven Darfur region on Thursday, while pointedly avoiding a war of words with U.S. lawmakers who warned of an Olympics backlash if Beijing did not do more to pressure Sudan.

The United Nations says around 200,000 people have died and more than 2 million have been made homeless since 2003 when conflict flared in Darfur, where government-linked militia have been fighting rebels. Khartoum says only 9,000 have died.

"Recent overall trends over the Darfur issue have been in the positive direction," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular news conference in Beijing.

China buys much of Sudan's oil, and as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, has resisted proposals to send U.N. peacekeepers without Sudan's consent. But Beijing has also nudged Sudan to accept peacekeepers and in April sent an envoy to inspect refugee camps in Darfur.

Jiang said recent progress showed "equal dialogue" is the most effective path to resolve the Darfur violence. She said "China has made unstinting efforts to appropriately resolve the Darfur issue."

On Wednesday, more than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent President Hu Jintao a letter, warning of "disaster" for Beijing's 2008 Olympic Games if China does not step up efforts to stop the violence.

"It would be a disaster for China if the Games were to be marred by protests, from concerned individuals and groups, who will undoubtedly link your government to the continued atrocities in Darfur, if there is no significant improvement in the conditions," said the letter.

Jiang also noted that Beijing will be sending 275 military engineers for the peacekeeping contingent and she praised U.S. efforts in the region.

"The United States has played a positive role in Darfur." she said. "We can say that China and the United States share the same objective in Darfur," which she described as a political resolution to the conflict.

China and Russia on Tuesday both denied allegations by the the human rights group Amnesty International that they were breaching a U.N. arms embargo by letting weapons into Sudan.

China has committed the military engineers for a planned U.N. peacekeeping force to help partly implement the "Annan" peace plan, which proposes putting U.N. forces alongside African Union forces already in the Darfur region.

Sudan has resisted full implementation of that plan, but has agreed to allow a "heavy" U.N. support package of about 3,500 personnel to help the 7,000-strong AU force.

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