China in Sudan

China’s resource interest in Sudan is mainly oil and oil is important for the Sudanese economy, making up 90% of total exports in 2006. After Sudan’s oil exports grew by an annual rate of 132%, during the 2001-2005 period, the rate slowed to 20% in 2006. Crude petroleum accounts for 79,6% of the Sudanese exports and 20% of China’s African oil imports are from Sudan.

In 1996, with the intent of showing the growing CNPC petroleum expertise to the international community, as well as providing oil to the nation, started a programme to construct for example a network of refineries, roads and railways which would be a modern petroleum operation. Over US$15 billion have been invested since 1996. Bilateral trade more than quadrupled between 2000 and 2005.

China is Sudan’s largest trading partner, but China is also an important investor regarding infrastructure, investing in the Merowe Dam and having closed deals for the upgrade and refurbishment of close to a third of Sudan’s railways.

In sustaining the Khartoum-Beijing relationship, the Chinese diplomatic support, as well as Chinese military hardware used in the Sudanese civil war, in the South and in the Darfur region, has had an important role. The Chinese veto in the UN Security Council has provided the Khartoum government with protection against sanctions. Although, as public voices are raised around the world, connecting Darfur to the upcoming Olympic games, the Beijing government has seemingly been shifting to a more open attitude on actively working for a resolution to the crisis in Sudan.

On China and Darfur