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China's kung fu peace-keepers head for Darfur
 With kung fu, automatic rifles and armoured personnel carriers, China showed off its new-found power this weekend, and how it says it intends to use it for good in the world. The country accused of supporting genocide in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur announced it is planning to send peace-keepers to the region next month. It also invited the outside world, in the form of Beijing's resident foreign media, to meet the team in a display of growing openness about its military, the world's largest in terms of numbers. The force is small: just 315 engineers, medics and camp guards out of a total United Nations peace-keeping force of 26,000. But the government hopes it will dispel the idea that it is happy to extract the riches of poorer countries, such as Sudan's oil, and turn a blind eye to atrocities or even fuel them. "China's government has always played a positive and constructive role in the solution of the Darfur question," said senior Col Dai Shao'an, deputy head of China's peace-keeping affairs office, as he watched his men practise building a bridge at a base in Qinyang, central China. Well drilled in government policy, he objected in particular to calls to boycott the Olympics in Beijing next year over China's friendship with the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir. He said that blaming China for Darfur was like blaming someone because his friend's brothers argue among themselves. "The spirit of the Olympic movement is that the Games are not political," he said. "So it's completely unreasonable to link the Olympic Games with the issue of Darfur." China's role in Sudan was highlighted three years ago when it threatened to use its Security Council veto at the United Nations to block sanctions over the atrocities in Darfur, where it is estimated that at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced in attacks by government-backed militias. China is the biggest single customer for Sudanese oil and state-owned Chinese oil companies have invested more than £8 billion in the industry. Since then, China has been bitterly stung by a campaigning alliance of human rights groups, Hollywood stars and politicians, some of whom began to christen next year's Olympics the "genocide games". The decision to send troops to the UN peace-keeping mission is part of the fight-back, and follows the appointment of a special envoy on African affairs, Liu Guijin. He has attempted to draw attention to the "quiet pressure" China is applying behind the scenes to encourage president Bashir to support the peace-keeping effort. The difficult balancing act involved in being both friend to Sudan, and meeting what China now has begun to accept are international responsibilities to ensure stability in its trading partners, were on full display at Qinyang. Lt Col Shangguan Linhong, who will lead the Chinese contingent, stressed that his men were engineers and would not be involved in combat duty should it be necessary to separate warring factions. The first drill of the display was an unarmed run-through of standard kung fu moves - taught to soldiers as a method of keeping fit but more likely to be put into practice in Hong Kong movies than in Sudanese refugee camps. One troop demonstrated a drill involving the use of armoured vehicles and infantry to establish a position by force. Troops had also been studying the UN Charter, and had learned to shout "Freeze or I shoot" in both English and Arabic, said Lt Wang Yong. Yesterday, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, promised Britain would send technical support to the peacekeeping force, and again threatened there would be further sanctions on Sudan should it fail to enable the UN to do its job. He spoke as "Gobal Day for Darfur" was marked by a series of rallies around the world for action to end the killings. Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Minister, also gave an upbeat account of recent negotiations with President Bashir, but said little had been done to ready Darfur for the peace-keeping operations. Chinese officials privately down-play the level of violence in the area, suggesting it is exaggerated by the media. Lt Col Shangguan, who led the Chinese reconnaissance mission to prepare for deployment, said the situation seemed "not too tense" with shops open for business and children going to school. His main challenge, he thought, would be more fundamental. "It is very hot," he said. His superior, Col Dai, was more cautious. China had participated in 17 peace-keeping missions since 1990, he said, but he thought this would be the most dangerous yet. Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-09-18 |
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