China Digital Times

China news tagged with: Darfur (87)

• The Times: Chinese Whispers

  

  The Times has an editorial about China’s “inaction” in helping curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions:

  China’s role in the six-power group and the UNSC is crucial. Its economic strength matters in the application of sanctions. Its diplomatic importance, as a permanent member of the UNSC and with the power of veto, will determine whether Iran feels constrained in its nuclear ambitions. China, as a rapidly industrialising power and a massive consumer of energy, is a huge market for Iranian exports. It is, in return, supplying Iran with Silkworm missiles. The relationship replicates China’s import of oil from Sudan and export of weapons for the atrocities committed by that regime in Darfur. The difference is merely that in Darfur the genocide has already happened, whereas President Ahmadinejad looks forward to the annihilation of Israel.

  » Read more
  • January 18, 2010 10:44 PM

• China Grants Sudan $3m for North-South Unity

  

  From the Sudan Tribune:

  On Sunday, the Chinese government granted the government of Sudan $3 million for the purposes of strengthening unity between the north and south of Sudan. The grant comes on the heels of a recent agreement between the two countries to enhance economic cooperation and trade and to open Chinese banks in Sudan.  In February 2009, China and Sudan will mark 50 years of relations. As the article notes, the level of trade relations between China and Sudan is significant:

  China is Sudan’s leading commercial partner while Sudan is China’s third largest trade partner in Africa.The volume of trade exchange between the two countries in 2007 reached 5.6 billion US dollars, while the trade volume in the first nine months of 2008 was at 6.5 billion dollars comprising different sectors, particularly oil, machinery, equipments and goods.

  China’s relationship with Sudan has been fraught with controversy, particularly regarding the Darfur crisis. To read more, please see these articles on China Digital Times.

  Will Killing of Oil Workers Harden China’s Darfur Policy?
  China Hostages ‘Killed in Sudan’ (Updated)
  China Says Working With West To Avoid Darfur Strife

  » Read more
  • December 1, 2008 1:15 PM

• Will Killing of Oil Workers Harden China’s Darfur Policy?

  

  The Christian Science Monitor looks at the possible long-term repercussions of the killing of four Chinese oil workers in Sudan:

  The attack on Chinese oil workers and interests in Sudan comes as many international diplomats are hoping that China will influence its business partner, Sudan, to come to terms with rebel groups and end the six-year war in Darfur. While it is not clear who carried out the killings, the very proximity of Kordofan to both Darfur and to South Sudan – which had its own 21-year civil war against Sudan – is a sign that Sudan’s conflicts may widen and converge.

  “This is very bad news,” says Alex de Waal, a Sudan expert at Harvard University. “The Chinese feel unfairly targeted by world opinion, and reasonably so, because they actually don’t have as much influence in Sudan as some people think. They can’t dictate what the Sudan government does.”

  He says China might decided the risks are too great to continue oil operations in Sudan. “On the other hand … they need oil, and they are not as sensitive to losing people as the Americans or the British would be,” since they don’t have an open news media to criticize Chinese policy in Sudan.

  » Read more
  • October 28, 2008 7:32 PM

• China in Africa Round-up 08.01: ICC Indictment, Chinese Troops in Darfur, Anti-Dumping Investigation in SA, China Funds in Africa, and A Chinese Color War

  

  From Xinhua:

  China Urges Security Council to Suspend ICC Indictment of Sudanese Leader

  China on Thursday urged the UN Security Council to suspend the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s indictment of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

  “China supports the reasonable request by the African Union and other organizations for the council to take early measures in accordance with the relevant provisions to suspend ICC’s indictment of the Sudanese leader,” he said.

  “The proposed indictment of the Sudanese leader by the ICC prosecutor is an inappropriate decision made at an inappropriate time,” Wang said. “It will seriously undermine the mutual political trust and cooperation between the UN and the Sudanese government.” [...]

  Wang said the parties involved in the Darfur peace process are currently engaged in vigorous political efforts to resolve the issue, and that no headway would be possible without the full cooperation of the Sudanese government.

  China’s UN Ambassador Wang Guangya made the appeal after the 15-member body adopted a resolution extending the mandate of the UN-African Union peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID), which expires Thursday. [...]

  In related news, from AlJazeeraEnglish:

  China Sends Troops to Darfur as Promised – 27 July 2008
  

  a>

  From CNN:

  Senators Call for Truce in Darfur During Olympics

  A bipartisan group of U.S. senators called for an Olympic truce in Darfur during the Beijing Olympics.

  The senators introduced a resolution Thursday that urges China to pressure trading partner Sudan to end the violence that has claimed an estimated 300,000 lives and displaced 2.7 million others.

  “The Chinese government hoped to show the world a new China with the Olympics, but instead the spotlight will be on their same old policies that disregard the rights of human beings,” said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., one of the resolution’s sponsors.

  “It would be a tremendous step toward peace and human rights across the globe if China, joined by the international community, would commit to helping to bring an end to the bloodshed in Darfur and elsewhere in Africa.”

  From AllAfrica:

  China ‘Dumps’ Kitchen Sinks in Country

  SA’s International Trade Administration Commission (Itac) has begun antidumping investigations into stainless steel sink imports from China and Malaysia after local manufacturers claimed that almost half the product value of these imports came from state incentives.

  The antidumping [allegation] [...] claims China’s imports have surged to 60% of total imports from nothing only three years ago. Despite an import duty of 20% on stainless steel sinks, the price of imported products still undercuts locally manufactured sinks.[...]

  In an agreement that trade consultants had warned could compromise local industries, SA had granted China market economy status and agreed to enhance debate on antidumping in return for China agreeing to the imposition of import quotas on cheap clothing and textile from that country. SA has not had a single successful antidumping investigation against China since granting it market economy status.

  [A separate allegation] claims that Chinese manufacturers benefit from a host of incentives, including special economic zone incentives , grants for export performance, preferential loans, grants, preferential tax, reduced land use fees and preferential purchases from state-owned enterprises.

  From Reuters:

  China Dev. Bank to Invest More in African Farming

  The China Development Bank plans further African farming investments as the continent tries to raise output to curb food inflation and shortages, Governor Chen Yuan told African finance ministers and bankers on Friday. [...]

  “China Development Bank is anxious to work in the area of agriculture. Given the current scenario of a great shortage of food and food price hikes I believe African countries should put agricultural development as their top priority,” he said.

  Addressing the IMF and World Bank Africa Caucus in Mauritania, Chen said African countries should grow cereals as well as cash crops such as rubber and pine, and upgrade their processing capacity to make value added agricultural projects. [...]

  “China Development Bank is willing to share its experience and provide financing to agricultural development in Africa,” he said. [...]

  China’s trade with Africa has surged in recent years, reaching $73 billion in 2007, Chen said.

  In related news, also from Reuters:

  Africa Finance Chiefs Eye Consensus on China Funds
  

  African finance ministers and central bankers met IMF and World Bank counterparts on Friday hoping to hammer out guidelines on handling a tide of new investment into the continent, much from resource-hungry China. [...]

  Traditional lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank worry African states now benefiting from debt relief may run up new debt mountains they may find hard to sustain, especially if a commodities boom runs out of steam. [...]

  Besides loans, deals with China often involve Chinese workers building roads and other infrastructure projects, while natural resources move the other way, and the sums are awesome.

  Opposition politicians and anti-graft groups in Niger have criticised the lack of transparency surrounding a deal between the government and China’s state oil company CNCP which could be worth $5 billion to one of the poorest countries on earth. [...]

  “The advantage of the new financiers is that they respond to a need that Africa has, which is infrastructure, whereas traditional donors focus on things like education,” said a finance official at the meeting who declined to be named. [...]

  “A big concern is debt. Lots of debt has just been wiped out, and now with China coming, are we going to see a new cycle? Prices of oil and other resources are high at the moment, but if prices drop, African countries will still have to pay interest on loans from China,” the delegate said. [...]

  The Chinese Developent Bank’s presence at the IMF-World Bank meeting demonstrated the sea change in African finance in recent years.

  “Like it or not, China is a big part of Africa now,” another delegate said.

  From Time:

  A Chinese Color War

  [...]The post-apartheid government [in South Africa] instituted an affirmative action program called Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) to redress the massive imbalance of economic power in favor of whites. BEE legislation relies for the most part on apartheid’s definitions of “black.” It is held to cover those excluded from power and privilege in the old order — African, Colored and Indian. But although they were also excluded, Chinese South Africans were passed over. The Chinese community fought back, and on June 18 this year, it won a ten-year legal battle to redress that slight. At a stroke, around 10,000 Chinese South Africans who had been South African citizens under apartheid officially became black, qualifying for the benefits of the BEE.

  [A] book called Colour, Confusions and Concessions: the History of Chinese in South Africa by Melanie Yap and Daniel Leong Man [...] documents how a tiny minority in a land delineated by race have long been abused from all sides. [...]

  Yap and Man [...] reveal evidence that Chinese may have settled in Africa long before the 17th century arrival of settlers from Europe. The first known map of southern Africa was drawn by Chinese cartographer Chu Ssu-pen in 1320. Sung dynasty porcelain (960-1279 AD) has been found at archaeological digs in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Chinese admiral Zheng He explored Africa’s east coast between 1405-1433. Most compelling of all, until a few years ago, there lived, north of Cape Town, tribes with light colored skin, Mongolian features and a language tonally similar to Mandarin, who traced their origins to 13th century Chinese sailors and call themselves Awatwa or “abandoned people.” Given the fact that not only the white population, but also the black African population migrated to what is now South Africa from further afield, Chinese South Africans feel as rooted here as anyone else.

  » Read more
  • August 1, 2008 11:05 AM

• China in Africa Round-up 07.17: Genocide By Proxy, Colonization Denied, and Anger Over Ivory

  

  New York Times columnist Nicolas Kristof applauds the International Criminal Court’s recent request for an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, and turns his sights on China:

  If China continues — it is the main supplier of arms used in the genocide — then it may itself be in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Article III of the convention declares that one of the punishable crimes is “complicity in genocide”; that’s the crime that China may be committing if it goes on supplying arms used for genocide, even after the I.C.C. has begun criminal proceedings against the purchaser of those weapons.

  Beijing seems unabashed. Incredibly, China and Russia are acting as Mr. Bashir’s lawyers, quietly urging the United Nations Security Council to intervene to delay criminal proceedings against him. Such a delay is a bad idea, unless Mr. Bashir agrees to go into exile. [...]

  According to United Nations data, 88 percent of Sudan’s imported small arms come from China — and those Chinese sales of small arms increased 137-fold between 2001 and 2006. China has also sold military aircraft to Sudan, and the BBC reported this week that two Chinese-made A-5 Fantan fighter aircraft were spotted on a Darfur runway last month. The BBC also said that China is training Sudanese military pilots in Sudan.

  Likewise, Human Rights First, in a report on Chinese weapons sales to Sudan, suggests that Chinese engineers supervise arms production at the Giad industrial complex outside Khartoum. Chinese military companies have also helped set up arms factories outside Khartoum at Kalakla, Chojeri and Bageer.

  China Paper Decries Sudan’s Bashir Arrest Move

  Not unexpectedly, a different view was expressed in People’s Daily, China’s top official newspaper, which amplified Beijing’s opposition to pursuing charges of genocide in Darfur.

  Chinese officials have voiced concerns an indictment of Bashir could derail struggling peace efforts in Darfur, and Beijing also faces threats of protests over its ties with Sudan during the Olympic Games in August.

  On Thursday, the People’s Daily, official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, added to criticism of the ICC.

  “Don’t pour oil on fire,” said a commentary in the paper, adding that Darfur is “at a sensitive and crucial time.”

  “Alleviating this problem demands all sides exercise prudence, consult on an equal basis and strive to cooperate, not rashly push for sanctions, indictments, verdicts and even issuing arrest warrants.”

  China Boosts Peacekeepers in Darfur

  The AFP reports one more reason for China’s concern over the ICC move:

  A new company of Chinese engineers deployed to Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur on Thursday, boosting the number of UN-led peacekeeping troops to 8,000, a mission spokeswoman said.

  “They’ve arrived; 172 arrived so that brings the number of the Chinese contingent to 315,” said Josephine Guerrero, spokeswoman for the joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission UNAMID.

  UNAMID is on high alert amid fears of a backlash after the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor on Monday sought an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

  China-Africa Ties: Europe Should Not Panic
  

  In a wide-ranging interview covering questions on human rights violations, arms deals with Zimbabwe and Kenya, low quality imports to Africa, and interactions with Presidents Mugabe and Bashir, the Chinese Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Zhang Ming, provided his answers to the African Executive.

  Q.  How sure are we that China is not coming to re-colonise Africa?

  We should look at things optimistically. India held the India – Africa Summit. Japan has arrived. Russia is planning to approach Africa. This should be good news to Africa. We won’t join military competition in Africa. China buys natural resources from Australia, and Canada among others but nobody raises eyebrows. Why are fingers pointed at us when we buy goods from Africa?

  Over the past 50 years, China and Africa have exchanged sympathy, support and assistance to each other in national liberation; maintaining peace and promoting economical and social development. Now, especially after the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which was held in Beijing in November 2006, China and Africa have established and are constantly developing a new type of strategic partnership, featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchange.

  Q. What message do you have for our European friends?

  I’d like them to know that China- Africa cooperation is an important component of international cooperation for development. It is neither targeted at any third party nor threatens the interest of any country. China takes an open, constructive and inclusive attitude to work together with the international community, including America, EU, India and Japan, among others, towards the peace and development of Africa.

  China and Africa: A Rewarding Relationship

  An opinion piece in the Times argues why the West should not assume that China’s influence in Africa is malignant:

  As the World Bank has noted, Africa presents huge investment opportunities for those willing to take risks to reap high returns. Africa has reversed six decades of decline in its share of global trade. Most countries there are growing at higher rates than the world economy.

  China’s increasing influence in Africa is often discussed without regard to this new situation. Chinese investment is a consequence of Africa’s growth, not the cause. Countries that grow 5-6 per cent a year for a decade need new roads, power stations and manufactured goods.

  Only countries ostracised by the West, such as the Sudan, have China as their main commercial partner. China’s presence there is a sign of its weakness, not its strength. China has been left with markets too small for Western investors. [...]

  But it is not Western governments that the Chinese appear to be upsetting. For years Western NGOs have sought to teach their domestic audiences that all that is required in Africa is small-scale, sustainable development. Oxfam encourages people to buy Africans a goat, some seed, condoms, a toilet, or even dung for Christmas. And all this comes with moral hectoring about Aids and the need for population control.

  No wonder the Chinese, with their no strings attached investment policies are so welcomed across the continent. They get things done.

  Anger at China’s Approval as Ivory Buyer

  The AFP continues its coverage of the UN decision this week to allow China to import elephant ivory from Africa under strict conditions with a recent article focusing on criticisms by conservationists:

  China’s approval for the first time as a bonafide buyer of ivory drew flak Wednesday from some conservationists who blame the country for stoking the illegal ivory trade.

  One of the world’s biggest consumers of elephant ivory, China was given the go ahead on Tuesday to participate as a licensed buyer in an upcoming auction of 108 tonnes of ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

  “This sale has literally given the green light to the international poaching syndicates and organised crime and will present a nightmare to poorly resourced wildlife enforcement agencies in Africa,” said Animal Rights Africa.

  “In real terms this represents the death of an estimated 7,699 South African elephants (1.8 tusks per elephant and 3.68kg per tusk),” said a statement from the organisation, which is based in South Africa.

  For background on this story, please see previous CDT posts, China Gets Permission to Import Ivory From Africa and UN May Legalize Ivory Sales from Africa to China.

  Chinese Trio Arrested with Elephant Tusks 

  In related news, The Daily Nation reports that three Chinese nationals have been arrested in Nairobi while trying to smuggle out processed ivory.  

  Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) confirmed in a statement that its officers working with counterparts from the Kenya Airports Authority have arrested three Chinese nationals – two women and a man – with 2.2 kilograms of processed ivory at the airport.

  The three were on their way to Harare, Zimbabwe when they were arrested and taken to the JKIA Police Station.  KWS spokesperson Kentice Tikolo said they failed to produce any valid CITES permits allowing them to travel with the carved trophies.

  Senegal Says Mediterranean Union Will Split Africa

  Reuters reports on the reactions in Africa regarding the launch of a Union for the Mediterranean. Mostly, there is fear that this may result in in a divided Sub-Saharan and Super-Saharan Africa. In many ways, China’s forays into Africa already reflect this devision. With the exception of Egypt, the vast majority of China’s activity is in Sub-Saharan Africa.

  The newly launched Union for the Mediterranean will divide Africa north and south of the Sahara and create a two-speed cooperation with Europe in which black Africa will be relegated, Senegal’s president said on Wednesday.

  In a statement issued in Dakar, President Abdoulaye Wade, an outspoken advocate of African unity, spelled out his objections to the 43-nation Mediterranean grouping inaugurated on Sunday by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris.

  The new union brings together countries from Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and aims to forge practical cooperation on issues like water, energy and education.

  Wade, who has in the past chided Europe for falling behind other more recent aggressive investors in Africa like China and India, said the European continent was seeking “new blood” by uniting with North Africa’s Maghreb.

  “But of course there are other obvious goals behind the Union for the Mediterranean initiative like Algeria’s oil and gas and Libyan oil,” he said.

  He said even in Libya, “there are Mediterraneanists not very inclined towards black Africa”.

  Zimbabwe inflation at 2,200,000%

  From the BBC:

  Zimbabwe’s annual rate of inflation has surged to 2,200,000%, official figures have shown.

  The figure is the first official assessment of prices in the troubled African nation since February, when the rate of inflation stood at 165,000%.

  Zimbabwe, once one of the richest countries in Africa, has descended into economic chaos largely blamed on the policies of President Robert Mugabe.

  The US and the EU have imposed targeted sanctions, such as a travel ban and an assets freeze, on Mr Mugabe and his close allies. 

  For background on China and Russia’s veto of the UN attempt to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe, please see a previous CDT post, China Vetos UN Sanctions on Zimbabwe.

  » Read more
  • July 17, 2008 7:04 PM

• China Has “Grave Concerns” Over ICC Sudan Decision

  

  From the AP:

  China said Tuesday it was concerned about an International Criminal Court prosecutor’s decision to seek an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president on charges of genocide in the African country’s war-torn Darfur region.

  Monday’s indictment marked the first time prosecutors at the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal have issued charges against a sitting head of state, though President Omar al-Bashir is unlikely to face trial any time soon.

  “The ICC’s actions must be beneficial to the stability of the Darfur region and the appropriate settlement of the issue, not the contrary,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news conference.

  Liu said China would continue to consult with other members of the U.N. Security Council about whether to block the International Criminal Court from issuing the arrest warrant, but said he “cannot speculate” what the results of the talks will be.

  From Reuters:

  “This presents China with many quandaries,” said He Wenping, an Africa expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a leading think-tank in Beijing.

  “It will have many consequences that China won’t like. Our own peacekeepers could be threatened, and also this will seriously impede China’s space to mediate over Darfur and encourage dialogue between Sudan and the West.”

  Liu confirmed that 172 Chinese peacekeepers will head to Darfur on Wednesday, bringing all of its 315 promised peacekeepers into place.

  He Wenping and other observers did not expect China to move on its own to hold off the ICC, especially with Beijing determined to burnish its international image with the August Olympics.

  From the BBC:

  The Sudanese government has responded angrily after an international prosecutor accused President Omar al-Bashir of genocide in Darfur.

  Sudan’s UN envoy said the International Criminal Court had no jurisdiction in Sudan and that it would not co-operate. Vice-President Ali Osman Taha said the evidence was false and indicated Sudan could try to halt the court’s work.

  [...]

  Sudan’s ambassador to the UN, Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad, told the BBC that Mr Bashir viewed the charges as a “political statement” and had no intention of co-operating with the ICC.

  He criticised ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo for indicting the president, whom he said had brought about a peace agreement to end Sudan’s civil war.

  Also see previous CDT posts:

  * Spotlight on China as Sudanese President is Indicted
  * China ‘Is Fuelling War in Darfur’

  » Read more
  • July 15, 2008 3:14 AM

• China Hits Back at BBC Report on Sudan

  

  From the AFP:

  A BBC report alleging that China is breaking a United Nations arms embargo on Sudan is biased, the Chinese special envoy to Darfur said in comments published here on Tuesday.

  Envoy Liu Guijin said China’s arms sales to Sudan were only small scale and that the trade in military equipment was not fuelling the conflict in Darfur, according to the China Daily newspaper. [...]

  “China’s arms sales were very small scale and never made to non-sovereign entities. We have strict end-user certificates.”

  The BBC broadcast a programme on Monday alleging that China was breaking the UN arms embargo by providing military equipment and training pilots to fly Chinese jets.

  In related news, the BBC reports that the UN is pulling back staff from Darfur:

  The United Nations is pulling back some non-essential staff deployed in Sudan’s restive Darfur region. It says the decision comes after recent violence and as a precaution after an international prosecutor accused Sudan’s president of genocide. Judges at the International Criminal Court have still to decide if there are reasonable grounds to issue an arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir.

  Mr Bashir is quoted by Reuters as saying the accusations are lies.

  On 8 July, seven Unamid peacekeepers were killed and 22 injured, seven critically, when they were attacked by heavily armed militia in northern Darfur.

  A UN peacekeeping official told the BBC News website the decision to move non-essential UN staff temporarily to locations out of the country – many to Entebbe in Uganda – had been taken after that incident, and as a prudent measure in anticipation of possible Sudanese reaction to the prosecutor’s announcement that he is seeking a warrant against Mr Bashir.

  Also see related CDT posts:

  * China ‘Is Fuelling War in Darfur’
  * Spotlight on China as Sudanese President is Indicted

  » Read more
  • July 14, 2008 9:21 PM

• Spotlight on China as Sudanese President is Indicted

  

  From the AP:

  The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed genocide charges Monday against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, accusing him of masterminding attempts to wipe out African tribes in Darfur with a campaign of murder, rape and deportation.

  The filing marked the first time prosecutors at the world’s first permanent, global war crimes court have issued charges against a sitting head of state, but al-Bashir is unlikely to be sent to The Hague any time soon. Sudan rejects the court’s jurisdiction, and senior Sudanese officials said the prosecutor was politically motivated to file the charges.

  Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked a three-judge panel at the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir to prevent the slow deaths of some 2.5 million people forced from their homes in Darfur and still under attack from government-backed janjaweed militia.

  Moreno-Ocampo said it was up to the U.N. Security Council to “ensure compliance with the court’s decision.” Achieving unanimous backing for any action will be fraught with problems since two of the council’s members, China and Russia, are Sudan’s allies.

  China, which is Khartoum’s biggest arms supplier and a major investor in its oil industry, already had indicated its opposition to an indictment. China’s United Nations ambassador said that any action against al-Bashir may put peacekeepers in Darfur at risk. And since the prosecutor announced his plan to bring charges against al- Bashir, council members met privately, with China and Russia warning that a direct move against the Sudanese president would jeopardize any future peace talks.

  With its decision last week to veto a UN attempt to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe and with al-Bashir now indicted, China’s overall foreign policy of non-interference and no-strings-attached investments is once again under the spotlight.  In what surely is very bad timing for the Chinese, the indictment comes only one month away from the start of the Olympics.

  From the BBC:

  Next month’s Beijing summer games have been dubbed the ‘Genocide Olympics’ by Hollywood campaigners.

  They accuse China of supplying the Sudanese government with arms to enable it to wage a campaign of violence in Darfur. Stephen Spielberg recently cut his ties with the Olympics over the issue.

  Beijing and Khartoum have long had strong political, economic and military ties. Because of this strong relationship, Chinese leaders have traditionally resisted international pressure to use their clout to bring peace to Darfur, where there is conflict between government-backed militias and rebels.

  » Read more
  • July 14, 2008 10:19 AM

• China ‘Is Fuelling War in Darfur’

  

  From BBC News:

  The BBC has found the first evidence that China is currently helping Sudan’s government militarily in Darfur.

  The Panorama TV programme tracked down Chinese army lorries in the Sudanese province that came from a batch exported from China to Sudan in 2005.

  The BBC was also told that China was training fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur.

  China’s government has declined to comment on the BBC’s findings, which contravene a UN arms embargo on Darfur.

  The embargo requires foreign nations to take measures to ensure they do not militarily assist anyone in the conflict in Darfur, in which the UN estimates that about 300,000 people have died.

  » Read more
  • July 12, 2008 9:37 PM

• China’s Role in War on Darfur’s Peacekeepers

  

  In a strongly worded editorial the Los Angeles Times today implicated China in the recent attacks on United Nations peacekeepers in the Darfur region of Sudan. In what was the deadliest clash since the world body formally took control of the beleaguered mission from the African Union in January, at least seven peacekeepers were killed and countless others injured in the ambush on Tuesday.

  China remains the second-biggest villain in this tragic tale, after the murderous Sudanese government. Beijing buys huge quantities of Sudanese oil and has obstructed efforts by the U.N. Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on the goons in Khartoum. A protest movement targeting the Beijing Olympics flared up during the international torch relay but has quieted since. We’re rooting for that to change by the time the Games open. 

  It’s all very well to embrace the spirit of international brotherhood and respect for human achievement that the Olympics represent, but Beijing is hoping to reap a PR bonanza from hosting the Games, and those hopes richly deserve to be dashed. Bring on the competition — and the protests aimed at exposing China’s unconscionable behavior. 

  » Read more
  • July 10, 2008 8:45 AM

• The Chinese in Africa: Threat or Promise?

  

  The Chinese in Africa: Threat or Promise?

  (July 2008) In this month’s edition of the Journal of International Peace Operations (PDF), former U.S. Ambassador to Gambia and Senegal Herman Cohen writes that China’s ability for large investments and Africa’s abundant natural resources can contribute to significant economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa.

  Cohen agrees with a recent briefing before the Subcommittee on African Affairs of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. has nothing to fear from Chinese activities in Africa.

  American strategic interests in Africa are not threatened by China. There is absolutely no interference from China against American-African cooperation in counterterrorism, money laundering, narcotics trafficking and other perils.

  But Cohen warns against complacency on the African side and calls for stronger domestic champions on African issues.

  The Africans need to defend themselves against Chinese exploitation. African governments should place limits on the number of Chinese laborers who are brought in to execute Chinese projects or work in Chinese enterprises. African workers should be given priority. Africans with education should also be given opportunities to advance to management levels in Chinese enterprises. [...]

  The key aspect of China in Africa right now is the responsibility of African governments to understand and protect their own interests. More often than not, African governments are supinely accepting whatever China is throwing at them, with little thought to the welfare of the African person on the street or in the village.

  Apart from serving as Ambassador, Cohen has also represented the governments of Angola and Zimbabwe through his own lobbying firm and is currently working as a consultant to an American aluminum company and a power plant company in the Republic of Congo.

  Chinese Firm to Develop Iron Ore Project in Gabon

  (July 9, 2008) China Daily reports that the China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) has signed an agreement on mineral rights of Belinga iron ore reserves with the Gabonese government. The deal has been in the making for over a year.

  A joint venture company will run the Belinga mine and its supporting infrastructures for 25 years, and is expected to have access to 30 million tons annually.

  The exploration and construction costs will be more than $790 million, including the construction of 500 km railways, dams and deepwater ports, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News.

  So far, the Belinga iron ore project is China’s largest resource investment in Africa. (Ed: more likely in Gabon)

  Last year, when the contract was already under discussion, it was reported that:

  Local ecology groups say they fear the contract, whose detailed terms have not been made public, may not contain sufficient safeguards to protect against environmental damage, for example through parallel logging activities by the Chinese.

  Gabon has part of the Congo Basin forest, the second largest forest in the world which conservationists fear is being damaged by uncontrolled, illegal logging as well as by a proliferation of mining projects.

  In related news today:

  China Discusses Darfur Oil-Hunt Aid

  From the Wall Street Journal:

  (July 9, 2008) Chinese oil-services companies are in talks to help Sudan search for oil in its troubled Darfur region, with the Sudanese army keeping the geologists safe [...].

  The two Chinese companies [...] are Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau, owned by China’s state-run Sinopec, and BGP, the geophysical-services unit of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. [...]

  Atrocities committed in southern Sudan and Darfur have led to criticism of the Sudanese government’s use of its oil revenue, as well as China’s role in supplying arms to Khartoum. [...]

  Given “the vulnerable condition of civilians in Darfur as the conflict there continues,” the beginning of seismic work on the block would warrant scrutiny, said Nina McMurry, an advocacy analyst at the Washington-based Sudan Divestment Task Force.

  » Read more
  • July 9, 2008 1:10 PM

• Athletes Announce Open Letter on Darfur and Olympic Truce

  

  Stephanie Clifford writes on the New York Times blog:

  More than 130 athletes have signed an open letter asking the international community to pressure Sudan for a truce during the Olympics, the activist organization Team Darfur announced at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday.

  “The Olympics has a great tradition and a great history of being a force for unity and peace in the world,” said Joey Cheek, who won a 2006 gold medal in speed-skating. He is Team Darfur’s president and co-founder; the group brings together athletes to raise awareness of the Darfur crisis.

  Together with Mia Farrow’s group Dream for Darfur, Team Darfur was asking world leaders, and particularly China, to force a 55-day truce in Sudan.

  » Read more
  • July 3, 2008 7:30 AM

• China-Africa: Daily News Round-Up 070208

  

  Scott Greathead on China and the Darfur Issue

  In this four minute-long video clip from an event at the Asia Society in New York on June 18th, 2008, corporate lawyer and human rights advocate Scott Greathead outlines China’s stance on the Darfur issue, including Mia Farrow’s “Dream for Darfur” campaign and her boycott of Olympic sponsors. The campaign has announced alternative TV programming during the Olympic Games with Mia Farrow reporting live from refugee camps in Darfur. Viewers are encouraged to switch to that programming during the commercials running in-between televised Olympic events from Beijing, in particular during the commercials by 25-30 global companies that are paying $100 million or more for their Olympic sponsorships.

  AfriMonitor: Exploring ChinAfrica
  

  AfriMonitor, a newly formed venture that aims to be a market research portal for the Africa-focused global business audience, has published a Trend Brief entitled “Exploring ChinAfrica” (PDF) which covers a few familiar facts on Sino-African relationships. The site also has a news aggregation section for “China-Africa“.

  Kenya Steps Up Bid to Woo Chinese Investors

  From Business Daily Africa:

  Kenya has stepped up campaigns to woo Chinese traders to invest in the country. The move is aimed at correcting the unfavourable balance of trade between the two nations.

  Ministry of Trade data indicates that deficit grew to Sh44.22 billion last year, up from only Sh3.68 billion in 1997. The bid to market Kenya as the most favourable investment destination in the region is the subject of a two-day China-Africa Development Fund (Cadfund) workshop in Nairobi.  

  Trade minister Uhuru Kenyatta has  urged the Chinese delegation to consider investing in the export processing zones where investors enjoy an array of tax incentives including a 10 year tax holiday. 

  » Read more
  • July 2, 2008 4:08 PM

• U.N.’s Ban Calls on China to Be Bigger Peacemaker

  

  From Reuters:

  U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged China to match its growing economic and political clout with more funding and troops for peacekeeping operations to meet growing international crises.

  China, a relative latecomer to global peacekeeping, has about 1,800 peacekeepers deployed abroad, making it the second largest contributor after France from among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

  “This is an area where China stands tall,” Ban said in a speech given to students at Beijing’s Foreign Affairs University.

  “You are one of the U.N.’s leading member states, and you now rank among our top 10 contributors of both funds and peacekeeping forces. China will need to rise even higher in both rankings if we are to meet growing global challenges,” Ban said.

  China last year agreed to send a 315-member engineering unit to Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur, where international experts say the conflict between insurgent groups, the Sudanese government and state-backed militias has killed 200,000 people and driven millions from their homes.

  The Sudanese government has accepted a hybrid peacekeeping force of 26,000 African Union and United Nations troops, but only 9,000 are on the ground.

  China, which sent a first deployment of 142 troops to Darfur last November, will send the remaining engineers in mid-July, Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

  China has advised Sudan to cooperate with U.N. efforts to resolve the crisis but has faced widespread Western criticism as the African country’s biggest arms supplier and for not using its oil and investment stakes to press harder for an end to bloodshed in the arid Darfur region.

  The U.N. chief, who will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and other leaders on Wednesday, told Chinese journalists he hoped Beijing would be “more proactive” on other global issues ranging from food security to climate change, the China Daily said.

  “I expect that China’s people and government will actively participate, commensurate with your economic development and political responsibility,” the paper quoted Ban as saying.

  » Read more
  • July 1, 2008 1:40 PM

• China Says NGOs Stir Anti-Chinese Feelings in Darfur

  

  From Reuters:

  China’s envoy to the strike-torn Sudanese region of Darfur on Thursday accused western media and non-governmental groups of stirring up anti-Chinese feelings among opposition groups in the African country.

  China has faced widespread Western criticism that it has not used its oil, arms and business stakes in Sudan to press for an end to deadly havoc in the vast, arid Darfur region.

  Last year, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement attacked a Chinese-run oil field in Sudan as part of a campaign to force Chinese oil companies to leave, and has previously demanded China pull its peacekeepers out of Darfur.

  China’s Darfur envoy, Liu Guijin, said such groups did not understand what Beijing was trying to do in the region.

  “Some important opposition groups have some views on China, but it’s hard to simply call them an anti-Chinese force,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a forum on Darfur in Beijing.

  “Because of the western media, and especially the stirring of some non-governmental organizations, China’s role has been distorted in their eyes. Some important opposition groups have been influenced by this,” Liu added.

  “But generally speaking, various sides in Darfur welcome China’s positive attitude in getting involved in solving the Darfur issue. At the same time, they see China’s contribution.”

  International experts estimate some 200,000 have died and 2.5 million have been forced to flee homes in Darfur since conflict erupted in 2003, when rebels took up arms against the central government. The government has mobilized mainly Arab militias to quell the revolt.

  China’s role has come under renewed attention since film director Steven Spielberg quit as an artistic adviser to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, saying China had failed to use its sway in Khartoum to seek peace. China is a big investor in Sudan’s oil and its largest weapons supplier. Liu has met opposition groups in Darfur in a bid to find a peaceful solution.

  “I think our contribution has been positive, constructive and seen by everybody. Of course this is not a problem that China can solve by its hard work alone. It needs the hard work of the international community, including China,” he said.

  Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun added that China was perhaps not being forceful enough in getting its message about its role in Darfur across to the outside world.

  “People who are dissatisfied probably don’t really understand what China has done. We have not said enough. We should say more,” he said.

  More from Reuters:

  China has made significant changes to its policies in Sudan within the past year and a half, appointing longtime diplomat Liu as a special envoy to the region and sending 140 engineers to help prepare for the arrival of African Union and United Nations peacekeepers. The efforts have earned kudos from the United States.

  While China’s ties to the Khartoum regime have long drawn scrutiny, they have taken on additional sensitivity amid a campaign to spur Chinese leaders into action by threatening to tarnish the image of the Beijing Olympics.

  From AFP:

  “We have done as much as we can do,” Zhai [Ed: Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun] said. “China remains committed to resolving the Darfur issue and has made unremitting efforts.” [...] “The armed rebel groups and government forces have exchanged fire constantly, which frustrates the security and humanitarian situation of the region,” he said. [...] Zhai reiterated Beijing’s stance that sanctions on the Sudanese government would be counterproductive to resolving the Darfur issue. Zhai said China has worked tirelessly to bring all sides in the conflict toward a negotiated solution, while also spending tens of millions of dollars on water and power projects in Darfur.

  For some background on the latest NGO activities regarding China’s role in Darfur, see this previous CDT post. The Center for Strategic and International Studies also recently published on iTunes a conversation with Liu Guijin, which provides some interesting information about his role as China’s special representative on African affairs.

  » Read more
  • June 25, 2008 8:57 PM

CDT BOOKSHELF

China Digital Times is run by the Berkeley China Internet Project | Copyright © China Digital Times | Powered by WordPress.