Chinese President Hu Jintao visited in Sudan in February 2007. It
was then announced that Hu had unique influence because China was buying
60% of Sudan's crude oil output, building projects such as the $1.8
billion Merowe hydro-electric complex, which will more than double the
country's power capacity, and refused to back UNSC sanctions over
Darfur.
Tanja Vestergaard, a China analyst at Global Insight consultancy,
was on Feb. 1 quoted as saying: "You will see a balancing act, with
some quiet diplomacy and pressure on Sudan to implement UN resolutions
on Darfur but without making Khartoum lose face". Hu's
eight-nation trip to Africa then was both a diplomatic mission and an
attempt to secure supplies of oil and minerals for the fast-growing
Chinese economy. The Sudan stop was the most delicate because of the
crisis in Darfur, but the most important economically.
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