China claimed credit on Thursday for coaxing Sudan to accept a planned UN presence in its troubled Darfur region, and said it had raised concerns about its arms exports flowing to Khartoum-linked militia there.
Beijing's envoy on Darfur, Liu Guijin, said his nation had been crucial in persuading Sudan to accept a planned "hybrid" peacekeeping force for Darfur combining African Union troops with UN forces.
Sudan has accepted the first two phases of the plan, and in June dropped opposition to the projected third phase, which will involve a joint UN-AU force of over 20,000 troops and police under AU command. "I can say with certainty that this was inseparable from the work the Chinese government did on Sudan about the Darfur issue," Liu told a news conference in Beijing.
Chinese officials from President Hu Jintao downward used meetings with Sudanese officials to lobby them to accept the plan as in their "long-term and immediate interests," he said.
Liu, fresh from meetings in Africa and Europe, also held out the possibility of Beijing giving more help to African participants so the planned peacekeeping force does not have to lean so heavily on Western troops distrusted by Sudan.
International experts estimate 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million driven into camps during more than four years of violence in the ethnically mixed Darfur region bordering Chad. Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir puts the death toll at only 9,000.
China, a big investor in Sudan's oil and traditionally wary of imposing resolutions on unwilling states, has resisted sending UN peacekeepers to Darfur without Khartoum's consent.
But Beijing is also worried international condemnation of its stance could sully its 2008 Olympic Games. Human rights group Amnesty International and other critics have accused China and other nations of breaching international rules and fanning bloodshed by weapons sales to Sudan that have been diverted to Darfur.
Liu indicated that during his recent visit to Sudan he had raised concerns about Chinese-made weapons reaching violent militia critics say are linked to Bashir's government.
China's arms sales to Sudan were limited and strictly abided by international rules, Liu said. But he conspicuously did not outright deny that some Chinese-made weapons may have been used in Darfur. "We do our utmost to prevent these weapons entering places they shouldn't and producing side-effects they shouldn't," he said, adding his recent talks in Sudan had covered "all aspects" of Darfur.
"Of course, we would also naturally be concerned about the weapons we sell - where they go and that they're correctly used," he added. The United Nations and African Union hailed the June agreement as a breakthrough, but many Western diplomats remain sceptical, accusing Khartoum of signing deals and then wriggling out of them.
Liu suggested Beijing could give more backing to African Union countries, so the "hybrid" force does not have to draw as heavily on troops from other continents. "Of course, in a general way we addressed future closer cooperation between China and the AU in this regard," he said of his recent visit to Africa to discuss Darfur. "We're also willing to consider giving even more help based on what is needed," he added.