“China and Sudan Bilateral Relations: It’s the Oil!”
1. Introduction:
Official diplomatic relations have been established between Sudan and China in 1959 , and the two country’s bilateral relations have witnessed a tremendous growth since then in all fields, particularly economy and trade. By 1996, China’s National Petroleum Company (CNPC) took control of most of Sudan’s oil , and since then China has been heavily involved in managing Sudan’s oil production and operations. Nowadays, China is Sudan's top biggest trade partner . There are speculations over China’s driving interest in Africa and specifically Sudan, and several views and arguments. However, if we focus on the driving force behind China’s interest in Sudan, we’ll find that it’s mostly driven by oil. Without oil, there would be no strong bilateral relations between the two countries. That is evident because, first of all, international relations are driven by national interest, which is oil in China’s case. Second, China has invested billions of dollars in Sudan’s oil industry including oil’s infrastructure. Third, China has ignored all of Sudan’s oppressive government acts and non-humanitarian activities in Darfur, and has always protected their economic ties and oil operations there. Those three reasons, which will be detailed below, are the apparent evident that China’s main interest in Sudan is oil.
2. Argument 1#: National interest is the driving force of international relations
“The main point of foreign policy is to protect and defend the interests of the state in world politics…All states must be prepared to sacrifice their international obligations on the altar of their own self-interest...” Historically, states relations were derived by national in...
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The objective of this paper is to address the ongoing crisis in Darfur and how it relates to international relations topics. This will be done by first bringing the reader up to speed with a historical summary of the Darfur Conflict so that they understand what is happening there. The next section will analyze the situation in Darfur using various international relations concepts. The final section will discuss the implications of the conflict on the international level, meaning, “Why should the world care? How does it affect other countries?”
Reeves, Eric, Massimo Calabresi, Sam Dealey, and Stephan Faris. “The Tragedy of Sudan.” Time. Time Inc, 4 Oct. 2004. Web and Print. 15 April 2014. .
Steinvig, Morten. "China Tries to save a Dilemma in Sudan." Forsvaret.dk. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Jan. 2013.
It seems China’s interest in African countries is not in territorial occupation, but rather in international prominence and expanding its rapidly growing economic agenda. Kenya’s richness in commodities and weak commercial laws are an idealistic setting for rapid market entry, therefore China has been able to effortlessly influence and expand its mercantilist ambitions without distress of competition from the west. Even though the United States is focused in providing conditional aid to Kenya, the effects of Chinese expansion in Kenya on U.S. interest are alarming, for China is offering cold hard cash that is f...
In 1898, Britain and Egypt took control over Sudan. This didn’t include Darfur, which was an independent territory ruled by a sultan. In 1916, Britain added Darfur to the territory it controlled. After World War II, in 1945, Britain and Egypt began preparing Sudan for independence. From 1945-1989, Darfur -remote from Khartoum and having invaluable resources- suffered neglect from all governments. Sudan has been independence since 1956. However, the journey that led to Sudan’s genocide in Darfur began in the late 1800s. It’s a complicated tale that involves conquest; internal politics; social, ethnical, racial, and re...
After the withdraw of Egypt and Britain, Sudan has been run by a number rickety / unstable government groups and milit...
The purpose of this essay is to adequately depict the current conflict in Darfur and discuss the effects that the Darfur Conflict has had on the neighboring countries, the Horn of Africa region and U.S. interest. In addition, this essay will explore how Darfur Conflict affects global concerns.
importer of Sudan’s natural resources, and has supplied North Sudan with arms and finances. China has
In conclusion, the events that occurred in Sudan from 2003-2011 can be defined as genocide due the evidence of rape, murders of ethnic groups and destruction of their livelihood to deliberately inflict on a their condition of life calculated to bring apart their physical destruction. However, if the Sudanese government didn’t organize and arm the Janjaweed militia to destroy the non-Arabs of Sudan, then the mass killings would be defined as civil war. The international community Is also to be blamed for not getting involved in the events leading up to the genocide as well as not doing as much as they could to stop the mass killings before they got to the extent that they did. Hundreds of thousand killed, millions displaced and/or affected either directly or indirectly, in a world that said “ Never Again”.
Throughout Northern and Central Africa ethnic fighting and mass genocide has run rampant. Clashes between, diverse ethnic and cultural people has caused instability, these mass humanitarian disasters that can no longer be ignored. With the help of other nations South Sudan can go from another mass genocide waiting to happen, to a region supplier of much needed resources, with the help of other nations. In the 1990’s Rwanda genocide was basically ignored by the United States government and because of this hundreds of thousands were either killed or injured in the area. In the early 2000’s the war in Darfur, created a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. Again thousands of Africans were killed and the United States government and the American people ignored genocide.
? Sudan: Government commits ?ethic cleansing? in Darfur. (2004). Retrieved May 20, 2004, from Human Rights Watch Web site: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/05/07/darfur8549_txt.htm
In Western Sudan, there is a current mass slaughter and rape of Darfuri men, women, and children. As of today, over 2.8 million people are displaced and 480,000 people have been killed. This act of genocide is being carried out by the Janjaweed; government-armed and funded Arab militias. And although the systematic murder, rape, torture, looting, polluting water
Natsios, A. S. (2012). Sudan, South Sudan, and Darfur: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford:
Tadesse, Debay. Post-independence South Sudan: the challenges ahead. ISPI-ISTITUTO PER GU STUDI DI POLITICA INTERNAZIONALE. February 2012.no.46.
...tempt to change their image globally of worrying only about the money they have invested in developing countries and not being concerned with who is in charge of those countries, or the human rights abuses that are a result. Secondly, China has large interests in Sudanese oil. Beginning a relationship with Sudanese oil production in the mid-90’s, China has continued to making growing investments in Sudanese oil every years since. Importing up to 80% of South Sudan’s oil exports every year, China has money to lose as the fighting continues, and even more money to gain should South Sudan regain its stability. With China’s tight grip on the Sudanese oil market, it could make it difficult for the U.S. to benefit from increased investment in South Sudan, and the U.S. could even be inadvertently aiding China’s financial gains from South Sudan.