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China to deploy peacekeepers to Darfur in October, military says
Associated Press ^ | September 16, 2007 | AP

Posted on 09/16/2007 12:42:40 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo

BEIJING: China will deploy engineers and a medical unit to Sudan's troubled Darfur region next month as part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission, the military reported...

Energy-hungry China buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil output and sells weapons to the Khartoum regime. Critics say Beijing has not used its economic leverage to push Sudan's government more strongly for peace in Darfur, and have attempted to shame China into acting by linking the Darfur crisis to next year's Summer Olympics in the Chinese capital.

Xinhua said the unit headed to Darfur has been trained in international law, the United Nations constitution and the English language...

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: china; darfur; oil; peacekeepers; sudan
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1 posted on 09/16/2007 12:42:43 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo

FITZCARRALDO'S SUDAN WATCH LINK NEXUS


2 posted on 09/16/2007 12:49:22 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo

FITZCARRALDO'S SUDAN WATCH LINK NEXUS


3 posted on 09/16/2007 12:49:25 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo

China has increased its effort to exploit Africa. I thought Bush would chase them out.


4 posted on 09/16/2007 12:51:35 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo

[Comuunist Chinese will wear UN Blue in Africa...]

People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers deployed for United Nations (UN) peace keeping missions line up at their base in China's central Henan province before being sent to Africa, 15 September 2007. China will send a 315-member UN multi-functional engineering unit to the Dafur region of Sudan in October to build and maintain barracks, roads, helipads and bridges.

China peackeepers aim to change image in Darfur

QINYANG, China (AFP) — On one shoulder, Lt. Liu Jinzhao has a sky-blue UN patch signifying membership in a Chinese peacekeeping unit destined for Darfur. On the other shoulder, there is a rather large chip.

"Those who say China is making the situation in Darfur worse are one-sided in their view, and we will prove them wrong," said Liu, a blue UN beret hanging off the side of his head.

"We will show that China can contribute."

Liu spoke on Saturday as his comrades in a 315-member engineering unit shipping out next month went through their paces for foreign reporters in China's latest attempt to play down accusations it is worsening Darfur's agony by supporting the Khartoum regime.

The unit will build bridges and roads, dig wells and perform other tasks, and they showed they mean business at a military training facility in central Henan province.

Under a glaring sun, the unit's bulldozers turned a churned-up stretch of ground into a smooth road in minutes, and 50 soldiers used their bare hands to move a 40-metre stretch of steel bridge into place over a ditch in seconds.

Elsewhere, another squad needed only a few moments to put a roof on an aluminum hut with "UN" emblazoned on its side, while others pummelled unseen enemies with martial arts moves in a snarling show of force.

The carefully choreographed display resembled a three-ring circus but the message was clear: China won't be cast as the villain.

"We will naturally face difficulties and challenges," Colonel Dai Shao'an told reporters. "But we are good at hardship, at fighting, and at making contributions."

A true Chinese change of heart would be welcomed by critics.

The Khartoum regime is blamed for backing militias that have waged a brutal campaign in rebel areas of Darfur which the UN says has led to more than 200,000 deaths in the past four years. The US has termed it genocide.

China, which is the biggest buyer of Sudan's oil, is accused of shielding Khartoum from international action, and some foreign activists have warned the situation will tarnish next year's Beijing Olympics.

But as the pressure has mounted, China recently played a role in getting Khartoum to sign off, after years of foreign pressure, on a new UN-African Union peacekeeping force to be deployed next year.

Yet China needs to do far more, says Jill Savitt, director of US-based pressure group Dream for Darfur.

"China is not yet doing enough. We have to remember that China played an obstructionist role for four long years," she told AFP.

Savitt said China must contribute real combat troops, halt arms sales to Khartoum and threaten consequences if Sudan President Omar El-Bashir backslides.

"China is continuing to underwrite the regime?s ability to wage genocide," she said.

Lt. Li Xinying bristles at such suggestions, using the halting English that has been part of his unit's training for the Darfur mission.

"No Western countries should put the blame on China. We are not responsible for the actions of the Sudan government," he said.

Li and his comrades are among a growing number of Chinese troops being sent abroad.

China says it has dispatched over 8,000 troops on such missions since 1990 and currently has over 1,400 in four hotspots worldwide.

This, plus China's apparent willingness to read the political winds on Darfur is "good for China and good for the world" said Prof. David Zweig, a China foreign policy expert at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

But he notes: "They have changed their stance but are not going to harm their (Sudanese) oil supply. They know that if they push too hard, Khartoum could just say 'bug off'."

5 posted on 09/16/2007 1:04:04 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo
Very interesting. We should all be taking notes on their performance.

UN Blue...

6 posted on 09/16/2007 1:13:42 AM PDT by Caipirabob (Communists... Socialists... Democrats...Traitors... Who can tell the difference?)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Geez we need guys like that to do some construction work here. Putting a bridge up in minutes.. empires are built with sweat, hard work and engineering.


7 posted on 09/16/2007 1:21:12 AM PDT by ran20
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To: Caipirabob

When we finally see blue helmets in America, they won’t be worn by laughingstock nations of easy targets.

How’s a few million Chinese troops at the request of Hildebeast or whomever else monster we elect sound?


8 posted on 09/16/2007 1:28:40 AM PDT by the gillman@blacklagoon.com (What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?)
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To: Slingshot; Ironword; Sawdring; Viktor; jerseygirl; Leroy S. Mort; VadeRetro; JohnHuang2; ...

Fizcarraldo Sudan Watch ping...I’m baaaack


9 posted on 09/16/2007 1:34:27 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: All
The nightmares I had when the Clinton's were in power before are returning...

How would you all like to wake up in the middle of the night to these guys kicking down your door...


10 posted on 09/16/2007 1:38:15 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo
Sudan exports about 279,100 bbl/day of oil. Most of it to the ChiComs. The Red Chinese have a considerable investment in Sudan petroleum production. If I recall correctly, the ChiComs already have considerable forces there to protect their investment.

yitbos

11 posted on 09/16/2007 1:41:12 AM PDT by bruinbirdman ("Those who control language control minds." -- Ayn Rand)
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To: GeronL

Fitzcarraldo Sudan Watch PING


12 posted on 09/16/2007 1:44:44 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: All
http://www.blue-nile.org/


13 posted on 09/16/2007 1:50:26 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: All


14 posted on 09/16/2007 1:53:22 AM PDT by Fitzcarraldo
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To: Fitzcarraldo
I thought Bush would chase them out.

How could G. W. Bush possibly do what you suggest, given that he's dealing with Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Burma...et al...Hmmm?

15 posted on 09/16/2007 1:59:19 AM PDT by LjubivojeRadosavljevic
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To: bruinbirdman

Probably need a place to store dangerous materials, like that other Asian country does in Syria.


16 posted on 09/16/2007 2:10:16 AM PDT by Son House ($$Proud Memeber of Vast Right Wing, Out To Lower Your Tax Rates For More Opportunities.$$)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Will be interesting to see if the chi-coms act in a more civil manner then other U.N. troops who have traded food for sex with woman and children in Darfor, killed innocents and basically acted like an invading force of mongols.


17 posted on 09/16/2007 3:52:20 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: Fitzcarraldo

Lrt the Chinese fight for mog oil. if you think iraq is disgusting..


18 posted on 09/16/2007 4:52:10 AM PDT by kinghorse
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To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
A true Chinese change of heart would be welcomed by critics. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The Chicoms now will become harbingers of World Government. ( It takes a Village you know.)

Of course there is no connection between Chinese Imperialism under a UN Umbrella, and Norman Hsu's many gifts to the DNC and our Wicked Witch of the West, Hillery ( Rodthem) Clinton. ( SARC.)

Duncan Hunter is the only candidate who has the Chinese pegged to a "T."

I hope he gets the nod for without a president like Duncan, China will run rampant before destroying itself and its economy.

19 posted on 09/16/2007 4:57:41 AM PDT by Candor7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258))
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To: Joe Boucher
Will be interesting to see if the chi-coms act in a more civil manner then other U.N. troops who have traded food for sex with woman and children in Darfor, killed innocents and basically acted like an invading force of mongols.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Let me correct your spin slightly:

Will be interesting to see if the chi-coms act in a more civil manner then other AFRICAN U.N. troops who have traded food for sex with woman and children in Darfor, killed innocents and basically acted like an invading force of mongols.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You obviously know little about how war is conducted in Africa.If the CHICOMS do not trade food for sex with women and children, they will have little of no power in the region, unless they start genocidally killing people, which is very likely.Most Africans would accept the former rather than the latter, as the lesser of two evils.And that is why the USA has chosen to be absent from the Horn of Africa, and nature abhors a vacuum, which is why China is there. The pirates off the coast of Somalia will now have brand new ChiCom ordnance.

20 posted on 09/16/2007 5:07:13 AM PDT by Candor7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghdad_(1258))
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