China to Develop Friendly Co-op with S Sudan: FM
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Tuesday China will continue to develop friendly cooperation with South Sudan, taking its independence and the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic relations as a new start.
Yang made the remarks when meeting with the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit during his official visit to South Sudan following a two-day official visit to Khartoum.
He said China attaches great importance to the development of relationship with South Sudan, and will continue to support its efforts in maintaining sovereignty and independence.
The minister said that China will also support South Sudan to play its own role in the United Nations and other international and regional organizations, and will continue to provide aid to South Sudan within its own capability.
He stressed that the two sides should enhance cooperation in the fields of oil, mining, agriculture and infrastructure construction, and China will continue to help South Sudan promote development and improve people’s living conditions.
Kiir said he welcomes Yang as the first Foreign minister from a permanent member country of the UN Security Council to visit South Sudan.
He said that there is a great potential for the cooperation between South Sudan and China, as all fields are under development in the newly-established country.
The president said that there are no problems between South Sudan and China, and South Sudan always took China an important partner for cooperation.
He said that South Sudan will further develop its relationship with China and expressed hope that his country will continue to receive assistance from China in the fields of oil, agriculture, health and education.
China to boost oil cooperation with both Sudans
By Hereward Holland
JUBA Aug 9 (Reuters) – China vowed to support Sudan and South Sudan and help both countries develop their oil industries, its foreign minister said as Beijing is aggressively pursuing natural resources in Africa.
Foreign minister Yang Jiechi visited the southern capital Juba on Tuesday, one of the first senior foreign visitors since South Sudan became independent last month.
China has maintained close economic and political ties with north Sudan throughout a U.S. trade embargo and now also wants to reach out to the south which decided to break away from Khartoum under a 2005 peace deal.
“Our two economies are there for each other and we want to see good cooperation in such areas like agriculture, infrastructure construction, oil production,” Yang told reporters after meeting southern President Salva Kiir.
“And we will give aid to the Sudanese people within our capacity to help uplift their living standards,” he said, without being specific.
He earlier pledged in the northern capital Khartoum more support for north Sudan, especially in the oil, mining and agricultural sector.
State oil firm China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has been granted the right to explore oil in three new blocs, the northern foreign minister Ali Ahmed Karti said late on Monday after Yang met President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in Khartoum.
China has committed itself to develop more than one new oil field in Sudan, Karti added, without giving details.
North Sudan was the sixth-largest source of Chinese oil imports in 2010. Most Sudanese oil is located in South Sudan, but exports to China and elsewhere have to pass through pipelines and a seaport located in the north, which gives export customers an incentive to promote good relations between the two Sudans.
Chinese companies will be allowed to transit goods and equipment to South Sudan without delays or having to pay any duties, Karti said.
President Bashir has been shunned by Western countries since being indicted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague for war crimes and genocide. China opposes the indictment. (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Jon Hemming)
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