Liu Guijin, the special envoy to Darfur from China defended his government in the sale of firearms. Liu said that the weapons that China sells to Sudan makes up only eight percent of all weapons coming into the country. He did attack the United States, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Liu said that those three countries were the biggest seller of guns to Sudan.
So far in the previous five years, a quarter of a million people have died. In an interview with BBC, Liu said that the conflict was not fueled by the Chinese firearms. He noted that there are seven countries including China, the US, the UK, and Russia sold weapons to Sudan. Liu said that the problem would not be solved if China stopped selling weapons to the country.
“Sudan is the third largest conventional arms producer in Africa next only to South Africa and Egypt.
“And there are seven countries selling arms to Sudan. So even if China stopped its sale, it still won’t solve the problem of arms in Sudan,” Liu said.
Liu is expected to travel to Sudan to counteract the criticism of China by the international community in regards to Darfur. He also said that Sudan should cooperate on the deployment of operatives from both the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN).
It is noted that China has strong links with the country military-wise and economic-wise. China is Sudan’s number one customer when it comes to oil.
Recently, Steven Spielberg the Hollywood director had walked off from his position as a creative adviser for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In his resignation statement, Spielberg said that China was not doing enough.
Last year on the Democratic Debates on CNN, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson who was a Democratic presidential hopeful gave the suggestion that the United States threaten to boycott the games as a means to put pressure on China to do more to stop the killing in Sudan.
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