China pledges continued support for Sudan: report

KHARTOUM (AFP) - Chinese Foreign Minister Yiang Jiechi pledged his country's ongoing support for Sudan, "whatever ... the internal and external changes," at the start of a two-day visit Sudanese media reported.

"China's policy towards Sudan will not change, whatever the pressure and internal and external changes," Jiechi was quoted as saying by the semi-official Sudan Media Centre late on Sunday, shortly after his arrival in Khartoum.

"China will continue its support for infrastructure projects in the fields of economy and development," he added.

A key ally of Sudan, which has suffered from US economic sanction since 1997, the rising world power is also a major military supplier to the regime in Khartoum, as well as one the largest foreign investors and the biggest buyer of Sudanese oil.

President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, travelled to Beijing just before the secession of the south last month, where most of Sudan's oil lies, to bolster bilateral ties.

On Sunday, Jiechi urged north and south to find "urgent solutions" to their outstanding differences, two days after a dispute over duty payments caused the authorities in Port Sudan to block a 600,000 barrel shipment of southern oil.

"Sudan and the south will lose the peace equation by not cooperating on common and disputed issues," he said.

Jiechi was due to meet his Sudanese counterpart Ali Karti on Monday morning, and President Bashir after his return from Chad, before travelling to Juba, capital of newly-independent South Sudan, on Tuesday.