China is the biggest supplier of small arms to Sudan following three years of increased sales that helped fuel violence in the African nation's Darfur region, a US-based rights group has said.
From 2004 to 2006, China sold over US$55 million in small arms to the Sudanese government, which then armed the Arab militias accused of genocide in Darfur, Human Rights First said in a report released on Thursday.
"While other countries were decreasing their arms sales to Khartoum, China stepped in to fill the void by providing Sudan with some 90 percent of its small arms during 2004 to 2006," Human Rights First said.
"This makes China the single largest provider of small arms to Sudan," it said.
The group urged China to end its arms trade with Sudan immediately and said the Chinese government may be susceptible to influence in this regard as it tries to project a responsible image ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.
Sudan was paying for the arms out of the revenues it received by selling oil to China, it said.
Betsy Apple, a director at Human Rights First, said Beijing's assertions that its arms trade with Sudan was small and that its military supplies were not ending up in Darfur should not be believed.
"So long as it continues to sell massive quantities of small arms to Khartoum, the government of China has created a virtual supply line from the small arms factories in China to the Sudanese government-sponsored militias killing civilians in Darfur," Apple said.
Following a trip to Sudan this month, China's special envoy to Darfur, Liu Giujin (
Liu said China was one of seven weapons suppliers to the government in Khartoum.
"In addition, Sudan is Africa's third arms producer behind Egypt and South Africa and is self-sufficient in conventional arms and ammunition," Liu told reporters in Paris.
"The country will always find a way to obtain arms. It is unfair to accuse China," Liu said.
Also See: Sudan and Chad ink sixth pact
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
RSS