China opposes Sudan sanctions
20/4/2007 9:42
China yesterday called for "continued constructive efforts" on the Darfur
issue but shrugged off discussion of sanctions against Sudan.
US
President George W. Bush threatened on Wednesday to increase economic sanctions
and impose new punishments if Sudan fails to take concrete action to meet its
obligations over the Darfur crisis.
But China disagreed with the United
States on the proposed actions, saying, "It's not the right time to discuss
sanctions."
"At present, more positive measures should be taken to
implement the consensus that had been reached," Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regular news conference
yesterday.
Sudan's United Nations envoy announced on Monday that the
Sudanese government had approved a UN plan to send attack helicopters to support
the African Union force in war-torn Darfur.
The UN, the AU and the
Sudanese government agreed in November on a three-phase support plan put in
place by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
After the first phase of
the plan, a light support package, was implemented, the three parties reached an
agreement in principle on April 9 to inaugurate the second phase, known as "the
heavy support phase."
But the Sudanese government's opposition to the
deployment of attack helicopters in Darfur had blocked the scheduled
implementation of the second phase.
Liu noted that the three parties have
now reached consensus on that phase of the plan.
Xinhua
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