China and the Darfur crisis

China’s foreign policy evolution over the Darfur issue was mainly driven by China’s long-term considerations of economic and political interests in Sudan and in Africa with the important contribution of other factors such as the pressure from the West as well as the unprecedented sensitivity of China to international criticism in the form of the Genocide Olympics campaign. The Darfur crisis is considered as a case study of China’s foreign policy challenges in Africa: the conflict has politicised and internationalised the contradictions of China-Sudan relations claiming the attention of the international community on one of the most controversial bilateral relationships of China in Africa. As such the Darfur conflict exemplifies the tension between China’s old rhetoric of non-interference and absolute State sovereignty and its long-term objective of being regarded as a responsible international stakeholder. An analysis of the real reasons driving China’s foreign policy shifts over the Darfur issue reveals a prevalence of China’s long-term material interests in Sudan and more generally in Africa.