30 June 2011
editorial
Nairobi — The visit to China by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is a cementing of the good bilateral relations the two countries have maintained.
But as South Sudan becomes a new republic in two weeks, the question is what role China will play in the new dispensation.
China, being an emerging global economic powerhouse, is required to play a role that will neither undermine the new republic nor jeopardise peace in the region.
The hope for the rest of the eastern African region is that Bashir visited China to seek help in the wake of separation and not to solicit arms to be used against the south.
The visit is understandable because China is Sudan’s major trading partner and investor.
Furthermore, the Chinese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) is one of the biggest foreign companies producing oil in Sudan.
When the international community made Sudan a pariah nation for allegedly sponsoring terrorism, it was only China among the five Security Council members that stood by Khartoum.
This speaks volumes, and China must use its influence to exert a positive influence on Khartoum.
AllAfrica – All the Time
See the article here:
Don’t Arm Khartoum