The American and Chinese government get along in Sudan?:
A September 2008 cable from Sudan details some of the surprisingly extensive ongoing discussions between the Chinese ambassador to Sudan Li Chengwen and the US embassy in Khartoum. For example, China’s ambassador was concerned that moves by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue a war crimes arrest warrant for Sudanese president Bashir would make the Darfur crisis harder to solve, suggesting that it had “hardened the rebels’ stance towards peace.”
The US embassy concurred with the Chinese analysis of the ICC move: “Li’s concern that the issuance of an arrest warrant for President Bashir could have profound destabilizing effects are well founded…the ICC indictment could set off a chain reaction of violence and instability. China’s encouragement of GOS [Government of Sudan] internal mobilization and international engagement, including with the ICC, is both useful and helpful.” This nuanced and detailed report contrasts with the dismissive and superficial comments attributed to Ambassador Carsson during his visit to Nigeria: “The Chinese are dealing with the Mugabe’s [sic] and Bashir’s [sic] of the world”.
The whole article is worth reading, a lot of these wikileaks cables are being quite badly reported on.
I actually don’t think the American and Chinese attitudes to Africa are all that different. America is quite a bit better than Europe on the ‘Aid but not trade’ stance (though we have our moments), and America has always had a bit more of a capacity to be utterly realist. I imagine if China and America could learn to trust each other they’d be great friends….
and hated by everyone else in the world.:
one of the main concerns voiced by African diplomats in Beijing, such as Ole Sunkuli, Kenya’s Ambassador to China, or South African Minister Plenipotentiary Dave Malcolmson, is that closer US-Chinese cooperation would hamper China’s effectiveness.
[...] quietly by 2030). But two months ago I would have not been able to predict the odd rapport between China and America in Sudan. I’m almost certain I won’t be able to predict what China is going to be like in 2019. [...]
[...] in the worst excesses of dictators. As I have written elsewhere, this is particularly the case in Sudan and Zimbabwe, where in the former case they have been instrumental in helping ease tensions between [...]
[...] and those resources are not already tapped by international companies. There has been plentiful reporting though on how China has actively tried to encourage reform in Zimbabwe and Sudan, and people [...]