China on Tuesday defended its arms exports to African nations, saying they are small in scale and do not violate United Nations rules that ban weapons sales to countries at war.
”On the arms exports to Africa, China takes a cautious and responsible attitude,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said shortly after President Hu Jintao left for an eight-nation tour of the continent.
”China has restricted arms trade with African countries; it is on a small scale and restricted to conventional arms.”
Human rights groups have accused China of supplying the government in Sudan with arms for use in a genocide campaign in the nation’s western Darfur region.
The UN estimates the conflict in Darfur has left about 200 000 people dead and displaced nearly 2,5-million people since 2003, figures the government in Khartoum says are exaggerated.
Hu will visit Sudan on Friday on the third leg of his African tour, a stop that has thrown into focus China’s close relationship with Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and his ruling National Congress Party.
Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said last week that China maintains military ties with Sudan, but did not detail the extent of the relationship.
”With Sudan, we have cooperation in many aspects, including military cooperation. In this, we have nothing to hide,” Zhai said.
Jiang did not directly address China’s arms sales to Sudan, but insisted that Beijing maintains strict laws and regulations in its arms dealings.
”We only export those articles to sovereign countries and we demand that the relevant countries make commitments not to transfer the arms imported from China to third parties,” she said.
”We strictly abide by the resolutions of the UN not to export to countries and regions in war.”
When al-Bashir came to Beijing in November last year for a China-Africa summit, he thanked China for helping to block a United States-led push to send UN peacekeepers into Darfur. — Sapa-AFP