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BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao heads to Africa this week unbowed by the controversy over his nation's ties with Sudan, where a brutal conflict in its western Darfur region has been described as genocide.
Sudan will be the third stop of Hu's eight-nation tour of Africa, which begins on Tuesday and will be closely watched to see how China uses its growing influence with the regime in Khartoum and elsewhere around the continent.
Chinese officials said ahead of the trip that Hu would be looking to help broker a lasting piece in Darfur.
"I believe this visit will not only boost bilateral ties, but also peace and stability in this region," assistant foreign minister Zhai Jun told journalists.
Critics have accused China of, at best, turning a blind eye to rights violations in Sudan to secure oil and, at worst, helping to fuel the violence by giving military and economic support to Khartoum.
Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir thanked China last year for helping to block a US-led push at the United Nations Security Council to send UN peacekeepers into Darfur.
According to UN figures that Khartoum disputes, at least 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur and more than two million displaced since the 2003 rebel uprising that government troops and allied militias fiercely repressed.
The United States has described the situation in Darfur as genocide but Zhai made no apologies for China's military or economic ties with Khartoum.
"With Sudan, we have cooperation in many aspects, including military cooperation. In this, we have nothing to hide," Zhai said.
He said a series of series of economic deals would be signed during Hu's visit to Khartoum on February 2-3, furthering bolstering bilateral trade that reached 2.9 billion dollars in the first 11 months of 2006.
"I don't know whether they will include energy agreements, but I can say the energy cooperation between China and Sudan is very successful -- if we have any energy agreements I think it is only natural," Zhai said.
Sudan currently produces around 500,000 barrels of oil a day, more than half of which are exported to China, according to Sudanese figures.
But with Hu travelling to Khartoum, the US and others have urged China to use its influence to persuade Beshir into finally allowing in UN peacekeepers.
China has said it will only support sending peacekeepers into Darfur if Khartoum agrees.
Zhai said China was "optimistic" that Khartoum remained "positive toward the settlement of the Darfur issue".
Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert at People's University, said Hu would urge Khartoum to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur.
"Hu Jintao wants to persuade Sudan to not reject the UN resolution and to cooperate with the UN," Shi said.
"This will bring moral and diplomatic pressure on Sudan and also help China's ties with the US, the EU and greater Africa."
The trip, Hu's third to the continent since becoming president in 2003, follows a successful African summit in Beijing in November last year that Beshir and most of the continent's other leaders attended.
Beijing's overtures to Africa, which also include billions of dollars of aid and poverty and debt relief, are a key part of its global drive to secure resources for its booming economy.
But while the warming ties have caused some concern in the West, many African governments have embraced China for helping to build roads, railways, power plants and other infrastructure.
Besides Sudan, Hu will also visit Cameroon, Liberia, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and Seychelles during the 12-day trip.
From February 6-8, Hu will visit South Africa, China's biggest economic partner on the continent with 8.8 billion dollars in bilateral trade registered during the first 11 months of 2006, Zhai said. - AFP/ir
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