Recent developments indicate subtle, important adjustments in Chinese policy toward Darfur, including the announcement that it will deploy an additional 172-member engineering battalion to Darfur by mid-July, bringing China’s contribution to a total of 315 troops in support of the United Nations-African Union hybrid peacekeeping force. Additionally, in a meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Mohammed Taha last month, Hu raised the issue and publicly pressed Sudan to “resolve the Darfur issue at an early date” and to comply with international commitments set forth by the UN and the AU.
Three important considerations can be gleaned from Beijing’s diplomatic efforts on Sudan. First, Beijing realizes that it can ill-afford to ignore the pressure and influence wielded by U.S., African, and other international human rights advocacy groups and nongovernmental organizations. Persistent criticisms from these civil society organizations have placed intense pressure on the U.S. government to take decisive, punitive actions in response to the situation in Darfur, including calls for forced humanitarian intervention and labeling Beijing’s narrow energy interest in Sudan as mercantilist and abetting genocide.
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