Economic diplomacy and Sudan crisis.

With the advent of globalization, the nuances of diplomacy are determined more by trade relations than human values. This is illustratable by the relationship of countries like India and China with Sudan. Though the International community repeatedly accuses Sudan of gross human right violations, still it doesn’t deter China and India to reach for Sudan’s natural resources to feed their burgeoning energy need. Rather, both these countries are busy wooing Sudan for acquiring maximum share of its oil field.
China has distinct economic interest in Sudan as it imports seven percent of its crude oil from this country. More significantly, this oil constitutes 47% of total Sudanese productions. United Nations Commodity Trade Database (UNCOMTRADE) says that China represents 64% of Khartoum’s trade volume. Also, Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has invested $4 billon in Sudan’s different oil fields with 42% stake in Sudan’s major oil company i.e. Great Nile Petroleum Company. China’s economic interest is not limited to petroleum only, rather it eyes for other natural resources like natural gas, gold, silver, chrome, asbestos etc. With rising investment, China emerges as the largest foreign investor in Sudan.
China is pursuing “Trade for Aid” policy in Africa and Sudan is part of this diplomatic design. In a visit to Sudan, Chinese premier Hu Jintao waived debt amount of $80 million and sanctioned $13 million interest free loan for Sudan. These aid amounts are largely utilized in up gradation of oil blocks from which Chinese draws oil.
Barring oil, China sees Africa as a lucrative market for its arm trade and Sudan in particular provides greatest opportunity for its arms market. Sudan’s arm forces have the strongest Chinese colour in this region. Even Ken Bacon of ‘Refugees International’ spotted evidence of Chinese weapons in Darfur conflict. It is believed that, China sold $100 million arms to Sudan in between 1996 to 2003. Chinese made military trucks, t-62 light tanks, F-7 fighters, Y-8 transport aircrafts, FC-2 fighters are now part of Sudanese arsenal. With no sign of diffusion to Sudanese ethnic conflict, the prospects for Chinese arms trade will increase in near future.
When China is vigorously pursuing its trade relations with Sudan, India isn’t sitting idle; rather in accordance with its “Look Africa” policy, India is proactively wooing African nations not only for furthering its economic interests but also to get their crucial support for getting permanent seat in Security Council. From this perspective, Sudan is at the top of its agenda, which is fathomable by Indian president’s visit to Sudan in 2003. The agreements signed during this visits are bilateral agreement on the promotion and protection of investment, agreement on the avoidance of double taxation treaty and memorandum of understanding on communication and information technology. Barring this, India is concentrating on Sudanese oil blocks. ONGC Videsh ltd. has 25% stake in Sudan’s biggest oil consortium. Government of India has also decided to invest $750 million for expansion of refinery sector in Sudan.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in its report states that the volume of trade with Sudan is around $120million in 2002, with a positive trade balance of $99million for India; making it the sixth largest exporter of commodities to Sudan. The statistics shows that there is 100% growth in bilateral trade between India and Sudan, which gives fillip to bilateral trade relationship. There is also a beeline of Indian companies like ITI, TCIL, and Konkan Railways, which are interested to exploit the Sudanese market. FICCI predicts that there is great potential for Indian industries to participate in areas such as railways, shipping, automobile, power generation, telecommunications, agricultural equipments, and pharmaceuticals and IT etc.
With India and China taking Economics as radar for determination of their foreign policy, Sudan will experience least international pressure to end the conflict from this part of the world.