Why US-China anti-piracy efforts offer hope for cooperation on ending Sudan war

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That is not the case at the moment, however. China has no interest in intervening directly to pacify Sudan, at least until the dispute between armed units loyal to Sudan’s de facto ruler General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo is confined to Sudanese territory.

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‘This is a transitional period’: Who are the generals behind the Sudan conflict?

Saudi Arabia and Iran’s strategic and economic importance weighed on China’s decision to mediate between them. Beijing has long-standing economic interests in Sudan, but bilateral trade and Chinese loans have steadily declined since the country’s partition in 2011 with the creation of South Sudan.

China would prefer to let the African Union try to solve the Sudanese conundrum, like it did last year with efforts that led to the signing of a peace deal to bring an end to the civil war in Ethiopia. However, the pan-African bloc and regional actors such as the Intergovernmental Authority on Development have so far been unable to launch any concrete diplomatic action.

Instead, Saudi Arabia and the US have stepped into the fray and taken the initiative in negotiations. Their officials have met both sides and mediated in Jeddah to secure a seven-day truce between the warring factions that expires on Sunday.

China’s wait-and-see approach shields it from the cost of remaining entangled in an intractable emergency like that under way in Sudan. Despite Beijing’s recent diplomatic activism, the Chinese approach is still “hide your strength, bide your time”, late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s guiding foreign policy orientation. But, in doing so, Beijing risks ceding space to Washington in the region.

China has outcompeted the US and Europe as far as strategic penetration in Africa is concerned, especially through the Belt and Road Initiative, President Xi Jinping’s plan to boost connectivity throughout Eurasia and beyond. However, in the past few years, the European Union and the administration of US President Joe Biden have launched economic and financial schemes to regain lost positions in the continent.

People’s Liberation Army personnel attend the August 1, 2017 opening ceremony in Djibouti of China’s first overseas naval base. Photo: AFP

China is accusing Nato of having expansion plans in Asia. It is worth remembering, however, that as recently as 2016, warships from China and members of the transatlantic alliance were conducting joint anti-piracy drills in the Gulf of Aden as part of Operation Ocean Shield.

Furthermore, the EU’s anti-piracy force in the Arabian Sea has often praised China’s collaboration in the fight against piracy in Somali waters. The two naval task forces have jointly escorted the World Food Programme’s humanitarian convoys in the region and even trained together to improve interoperability, including through combined exercises at the Chinese support base in Djibouti, Beijing’s first overseas military facility.

For all the problems in relations between China and the West, from the trade and tech wars to Taiwan, the South China Sea, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and human rights, the Global South should not be a battleground for geopolitical influence. Instead, it should be a venue for collaboration among responsible powers that can only benefit world stability.

Emanuele Scimia is an independent journalist and foreign affairs analyst

South China Morning Post