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Beijing trying to reshape views of its role in Darfur

People's Liberation Army soldiers destined for Darfur practice defense maneuvers at their base in Henan Province, China, on Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

On one shoulder, Lieutenant Liu Jinzhao has a sky-blue UN patch signifying membership in a Chinese peacekeeping unit destined for Darfur. On the other shoulder, there is a rather large chip.

"Those who say China is making the situation in Darfur worse are one-sided in their view, and we will prove them wrong," said Liu, a blue UN beret hanging off the side of his head. "We will show that China can contribute."

Liu spoke on Saturday as his comrades in a 315-member engineering unit shipping out next month went through their paces for foreign reporters in China's latest attempt to play down accusations it is worsening Darfur's agony by supporting the Khartoum regime.

The unit will build bridges and roads, dig wells and perform other tasks, and they showed they mean business at a military training facility in central Henan Province.

Under a glaring sun, the unit's bulldozers turned a churned-up stretch of ground into a smooth road in minutes, and 50 soldiers used their bare hands to move a 40m stretch of steel bridge into place over a ditch in seconds.

Elsewhere, another squad needed only a few moments to put a roof on an aluminum hut with "UN" emblazoned on its side, while others pummelled unseen enemies with martial arts moves in a snarling show of force.

The carefully choreographed display resembled a three-ring circus but the message was clear: China won't be cast as the villain.

"We will naturally face difficulties and challenges," Colonel Dai Shaoan told reporters. "But we are good at hardship, at fighting, and at making contributions."

A true Chinese change of heart would be welcomed by critics.

The Khartoum regime is criticized for backing militias that have waged a brutal campaign in rebel areas of Darfur which the UN says has led to more than 200,000 deaths in the past four years. The US has termed it genocide.

China, which is the biggest buyer of Sudan's oil, is accused of shielding Khartoum from international action, and some foreign activists have warned the situation will tarnish next year's Beijing Olympics.

But as the pressure has mounted, China recently played a role in getting Khartoum to sign off, after years of foreign pressure, on a new UN-African Union peacekeeping force to be deployed next year.

Yet China needs to do far more, says Jill Savitt, director of US-based pressure group Dream for Darfur.

"China is not yet doing enough. We have to remember that China played an obstructionist role for four long years," she said.

Savitt said China must contribute real combat troops, halt arms sales to Khartoum and threaten consequences if Sudan President Omar El-Bashir backslides.

Lieutenant Li Xinying bristles at such suggestions, using the halting English that has been part of his unit's training.

"No Western countries should put the blame on China. We are not responsible for the actions of the Sudan government," he said.
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