China says no pressure on Sudan following US envoy visit
Jan 15, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A Chinese high ranking official who is currently Khartoum, Said his country would not exert any pressure on Sudanese government following a US envoy visit to Beijing last week.
The Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister for Africa, Zhai Jun has pointed out following his meeting with the State Minister for Foreign Ministry, Ali Kurti, that china would not express any pressure on Sudan in place of other not now and not in the future.
Jun, has stressed that there was no link between his visit to the Sudan and the recent visit of the US President envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, to Beijing reaffirming that there was no pressure whatsoever via his country against the Sudan., the official SUNA reported.
The Chinese official has stressed the keenness of his country for a peaceful solution to the Darfur question adding that his visit to the Sudan was aimed at consultation with officials in Khartoum on bilateral relations and the possibilities of developing them further in the various domains and that it was never conducted on a signal by the American Envoy.
Jun told reporters that the solution of the question of Darfur should be based on the respect of the sovereignty Sudan and the safety of the Sudanese soil. The official pointed out to the progress made in finding a peaceful solution to the Darfur question pointing out to the briefing he received from the State Minister, Kurti.
He stressed that the policy of his country was a peaceful independent policy that calls for establishing relations with all states based on the peaceful co-existence, pointing to the good relations between his country and the United States of America but stressed these relations have not been at the expense of other countries.
The Chinese official held a meeting with the Sudanese presidential advisor Majzoub al-Khalifa who briefed on the latest development in the resolution of Darfur crisis.
During a visit to Beijing Friday 12 January, the US special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, said he had held surprisingly positive talks in Beijing last week and that he expected China to play a greater role in helping to end the conflict in Darfur.
Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali al-Sadek “expressed his astonishment over the trend of the United States and its envoy … to call on Sudan’s trade and economic partners and friends to help (find) a solution to the Darfur crisis.”
President Hu Jintao announced during a Chinese-African summit conference last November that he had urged the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, to work with U.N. and other envoys to end the fighting.
(ST)