Would-be immigrants sit on the deck of a search-and-rescue vessel as it berths at the Armed Forces of Malta Maritime Squadron base at Haywharf in Valletta's Marsamxett Harbour last Wednesday. Twenty-seven would-be immigrants, who said they were from Darfur, were intercepted aboard a makeshift boat 12 miles north-east of the Maltese islands on their way to European soil from Africa, authorities said. - Reuters

THE EDITOR, Sir:

The editorial entitled 'U.S. sanctions re Darfur genocide', which appeared in The Gleaner on Saturday, June 2, 2007 contains some points that are one-sided in understanding and misleading in conclusion. Therefore, we feel obliged to respond to clarify some of the issues raised.

There has been a lot of talk about sanctions against Sudan. While we are deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Darfur and hope the Darfur issue can be resolved soon, we would like to counter with the editorial that, when addressing complex situations like Darfur, sanctions should be the last thing to do and a peaceful and political solution should be the first to be sought.

Many previous cases have already proved that even if a large number of military forces are sent to a country, problems will never be properly addressed without the country's internal political process. That is why China has always supported implementing the 'double track' strategy in a balanced manner to address the Darfur issue, accelerating the implementation of former United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan's three-phase peace plan on one hand and promoting the political process in the Darfur region on the other.

Signs of progress

Recently, some signs of progress have been seen in Darfur. The Sudanese Government has declared a two-month ceasefire period and also indicated readiness to negotiate with the opposition forces whenever necessary. At present, the Sudanese Government, the UN and the African Union (AU) are discussing how to start implementing the second-phase plan as soon as possible. As a sound momentum of solving the Darfur issue emerges, to expand sanctions or impose greater pressure will hardly produce the expected results.

Our basic objective is to solve problems. If the issue is made more complex and hence more people become displaced and greater turmoil and isolation of human rights occur, how can we achieve the objective? This is the basic consideration of the Chinese Government on the settlement of the Darfur issue.

The editorial also claimed that China tried to block U.N. sanctions against Sudan because of its oil and trade deals with Khartoum, which is obviously misleading, biased and against the fact. China National Petroleum Cooperation (CNPC) does hold certain equity in the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., so do companies from other countries. To explore oil in a country is a normal business activity. In fact, some western companies started exploring oil in Sudan as early as in 1996. But only the Chinese company is questioned. Here again we see an attempt by some people to politicise normal energy cooperation or make hype about it.

We further differ with the author's labelling of China's trade relations with Sudan as "self-interest". It is our view that the root cause of the Darfur issue is poverty and backwardness. Only by solving the problem of development can the issue be ultimately resolved. Therefore, for Sudan, peace and development are closely linked with each other. The oil cooperation between China and Sudan is conducive to Sudan's economic progress and helpful for fundamentally addressing war chaos and turmoil in Sudan.

Chinese efforts

The Chinese Government has played a positive and constructive role in solving the Darfur issue. Our basic principle is to work for peace and facilitate talks. China has on many occasions conveyed the concerns of the international community to the Sudanese leaders and urged the Sudanese Government to show more flexibility and strength to accelerate the peace process. In recognition of humanitarian and security issues, China has sent relief and provided funds to the local people and the AU peacekeeping forces. We continue to hold that the international community should use its wisdom to push for a peaceful resolution by political means, rather than resorting to pressure and sanctions which may prove to be counter-productive.

We are, etc.,

The Chinese Embassy in Jamaica