Feb
29
China in Darfur – Accusation and Defence
February 29, 2008 | | 2 Comments
By Cindy Ru
Mr. Liu Guijin, China’s Envoy to Darfur, began his five-day visit to Sudan this Tuesday (Feb 26). The main task of Mr.Liu’s visit is to push the Sudanese government to accept more UN-AU(african union) peacekeeping force according to BBC. The US praised China’s latest move on Darfur as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters “there is a broadening in general of China’s view of itself in international politics and I think we’re benefiting from it.”
China’s role in Sudan has come under scrutiny as many activists criticize China’s oil interest in Sudan has impeded the UN resolution on Darfur and China has been providing weapons to Khartoum which help to arm the arab militia Janjaweed. The activists are urging China to exert its influence on the Sudan government and they have been making good use of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. The “Genocide Olympics” campaign was started by the darfur activist Eric Reeves with his article “Push China, Save Darfur” on the boston globe in 2006. Soon it was echoed by other celebrity activists like Mia Farrow and George Clooney. The recent news of Spielberg’s resignation from the Beijing Olympics got the campaign into media spotlight even more. On Olympic Dream for Darfur, activists are pleading “China to use its leverage to persuade the Sudanese government to allow a civilian protection force into Darfur.”
China defend itself against those accusations. In this article “China devoted to ending Darfur crisis” on the state-runned People’s daily, it listed several aspects as examples to show that China does not neglect the Darfur humanitarian crisis for its oil interest as some activists claimed. According to Du Qiwen,a state official in charge of foreign affairs, China now has 140 peacekeeping workers in Darfur, and it awaits order from the UN to send 181 more. Chinese peacekeeping force mainly work in transportation- a highly risky job to undertake, so it shows “China is doing the dangerous job so as to make some substantive efforts to contribute to UN peacekeeping in Darfur”.
In an opinion piece on China Daily, the writer said China has actively participated in helping to restore peace in Sudan. Some of his reasons:
“China played a significant role in smoothing ways to carry out United Nations Resolution 1769, establishing the UN-African Union mission.
The 135 military engineers China has deployed to Darfur, the first contingent of the hybrid UN force, set an example for the rest of the world. Chinese soldiers have made a miracle in Darfur, building bridges and roads. China’s humanitarian aid has been used to construct infrastructure facilities such as power plants, schools, hospitals and wells.
Few of these have been covered by Western media, which have been busy bringing pressure to bear on China.”
The New York Times Magazine Author James Traub said in an PBS interview that he thinks not only the oil interest, but also ideology stance give China reasons to protect Sudan. Well, A quote from the People’s Daily article seems to illustrate Traub’s point. In Mr. Du Qiwen’s rebuttal to the claim that China should give more pressure to Sudan, he said “exerting pressure on a foreign country and interfering in its internal affairs are not in line with China’s foreign policy”.
My next post will be specifically about the accusation and defence from both sides on “China, Oil, and Darfur”.
Comments
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While Darfur certainly is something the world, including China, should actively solve, I question the “Genocide Olympics” tactic.
There is a distinction between “China can do more” and “China is responsible” – Mia Farrow has ignored it her misguided effort to blackmail China and denigrate a billion people.
Is that any way to ask the Chinese people to help? By hurting them?
Especially given the fact America has repeatedly failed Darfur over the years. I would suggest we look at the root cause of Darfur – the negative consquences of American power in Africa:
http://www.countercurrents.org/janson090507.htm
cindy, i read this post last week on the issue: http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/02/18/china-spielberg-the-olympics-and-oil/
it gives a good view of how chinese citizens feel about the issue, as well as the fundamental difference in chinese and western perspectives. i agree with the earlier comment that there is a great difference between “china should do more” and “china is responsible”.
it is quite obvious that so many facets of the issue are not being reported in the western media, including china’s positive contributions as well as the historical elements to the conflict and the roles played by the west.