‘China’s diplomatic victory in Darfur’
This is the title of a timely eight-page research paper by Jonathan Holslag, research fellow at the Brussels Institute for Contemporary China Studies (BICCS). Released on 1 August, it puts under the microscope China’s role in negotiating a political deal between the Sudanese government and various other players leading the dispatch of a 20,000 hybrid UN/AU force.
“Darfur was the first case in which Beijing could no longer stand aloof when it came to pressing a government to allow foreign troops on its soil,” reads the paper. It adds: “With a Chinese belt of energy interests stretching from Libya to Ethiopia, all around Western Sudan, regional stability became of vital importance to China’s energy security”.
The paper examines the pluses of China’s role so far; soft power and economic support to Sudan and clear pragmatic talks, and minuses; “a state-centric” approach that fails to consider other important actors in Darfur and continues to supply arms to the region.
