Abstract :
China has developed a more consequential role in Sudan
over the past two decades, during which it has become bound up in
the combination of enduring violent internal instability and protracted external
adversity that has characterized the politics of the central state since the
1989 Islamist revolution. Two inter-related political trajectories of China’s
Sudan engagement are examined here. The first concerns Beijing’s relations
with the ruling National Congress party in incorporating China into its
domestic politics and foreign relations amidst war in Darfur, to which
Beijing has responded through a more engaged political role. The second
confronts the practical limitations of China’s sovereignty doctrine and
exclusive reliance upon relations with the central state. Following the
peace agreement of 2005 that ended the North–South war, and motivated
by political imperatives linked to investment protection concerns, China
has developed new relations with the semi-autonomous Government of
Southern Sudan, thus seeking to position itself to navigate Sudan’s uncertain
political future.
