Arms Sales and other Support to Abusive Regimes: Sudan, Burma, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, North Korea

Sudan is not the only place where Chinese military, economic and political support is enabling government atrocities. In fact, there are at least four others - Burma, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and North Korea - that suggest a disturbing pattern of Chinese support for abusifve regimes.

The governments of these four countries, among the world's most repressive, are responsible for mass atrocity crimes against their people. They are routinely criticized and marginalized by the international community for their atrocious patterns of abuse.

Yet China maintains close ties to these regimes, insisting that their human rights abuses are “internal affairs.”

China continues to sell arms to these states, even when those arms are used by state forces in carrying out mass atrocities.

China also continues to make new investments in these countries that benefit the ruling elite far more than the general population.

What's more, China shields its trading partners from international pressure, and refuses to use the full extent of its own influence to curb their abuses.

To truly be seen as a responsible world power, China must reverse its actions and policies that support abusive regimes.

China should:

• Stop all arms sales and military assistance to governments responsible for mass atrocities
• Stop gifts and investments that benefit only the ruling elite of abusive governments
• Support—or at a minimum not obstruct—efforts within the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council and elsewhere to end mass atrocities

As a crucial first step, China should:

• Stop arms sales to Sudan
• Support—or at a minimum not obstruct—efforts in the U.N. Security Council to ban all arms transfers to Sudan and to non-State armed groups located in or operating from Chad

Click here to join Human Rights First in telling China to Stop Arms Sales to Sudan

Click here to download a pdf guide to China and Mass Atrocities worldwide

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A member of the government-supported militia accused of mass murder, rape and destruction in Darfur sales to China (HRF)

Country: Sudan

Regime: National Congress Party (NCP) under Omar al Bashir

Accused of:

• War crimes and crimes against humanity in Southern Sudan and Darfur
• Mass killing of civilians, rape and torture by armed forces and government-backed militias
• Destruction of homes, some to clear land for oil exploration

China's role:

Major arms supplier -

• Has provided on average 90% of Sudan's of small arms purchases since 2004
• Has sold more than $55 million worth of small arms to Sudan since 2003
• Arms sales continued after 2004 U.N. embargo on arms transfers to Darfur, despite Sudan's public disregard of the embargo

Largest economic partner -

• Imported $4.7 billion worth of oil in 2006
• Receives more than 75% of Sudan's total exports and more than 90% of Sudan's oil exports
• China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) is largest investor in Sudanese oil sector

Diplomatic ally -

• Since 2004, weakened nine Security Council resolutions on Darfur, and abstained from voting on five
• Blocked criticism of Sudan by the former UN Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Council

China's interest: Natural resources

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Burmese refugee camp, Thai-Burma Border (HRF)

Country: Burma

Regime: State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)

Accused of:

• Crimes against humanity against ethnic minorities, including widespread and systematic rape, destruction of villages, forced displacement and forced labor
• Use of child soldiers in armed forces - estimated 70,000 children, some as young as 11
• In 2007, violent repression of peaceful protests resulted in thousands of arrests, beatings and torture in detention

China's role:

Major arms supplier -

• Over $2 billion worth of weapons and military equipment since 1989
• Provides advisors for military training

Largest economic partner -

• Bilateral trade exceeds US $1.5 billion
• Multi million dollar interests in oil and gas exploration
• Building gas pipeline across Burma into China
• Relies on Burmese timber imports

Diplomatic ally -

• January 2007 - vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for an investigation into human rights abuses inMyanmar and an end to government attacks on minorities
• September 2007 - blocked an attempt by the Security Council to condemn junta for violent repression ofpeaceful protesters in September 2007

China's interest: Natural resources; strategic location (on the Bay of Bengal)

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A child sitting in rubble left by the destruction of his home during Operation Murambatsvina (Sokwanele)

Country: Zimbabwe

Regime: ZANU/PF under Robert Mugabe

Accused of:

• Massive forced displacement, particularly during Operation Murambatsvina (‘Restore Order' or ‘clean out the rubbish') in 2005 - 570,000 homes and 33,000 small businesses destroyed
• Violent repression of opposition, including several violent crackdowns on protests during 2007

China's role:

Major arms supplier -

• Sold at least US $66 million worth of small arms, 139 military vehicles and 24 combat aircraft since 2000
• Provides training for military officers, 55 to receive training between 2006 and 2007

Largest economic partner -

• Bilateral trade close to US $300 million. As of April, 2007, investment stood at US $600 million
• In December 2007, state-owned Sinosteel Corporationbought 67% of Zimbabwe's largest chrome producingcompany, Zimasco Holdings

Diplomatic ally -

• In 2005, obstructed Security Council efforts to condemn Operation Murambatsvina
• Uses “non-interference” when asked publicly about
• Zimbabwean land seizures and election fraud
• Was the only country to endorse Mugabe's victory in the allegedly-rigged 2005 election

China's interest: Natural resources

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President Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Hu Jintao of China in Sri Lanka in 2007 (Columbo Page)

Country: Sri Lanka

Regime: Democratic Republic under President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Accused of:

• War crimes and crimes against humanity by security forces and state-sponsored militias in a 25 year war against Tamil Tiger rebels
• An increase over the past two years in the use of disappearances, arbitrary detentions, and recruitment of child soldiers
• Increasing abuses against internally displaced people, mostly against ethnic Tamils

China's role:

Major arms supplier -

• Main source of weapons used by the Sri Lankan government
• In 2007, China's Poly Technologies signed a $37.6 million deal to sell radars and close to 200,000 rounds ofammunition
• In 2007, the US banned military exports to Sri Lanka for 2008 over concern about human rights abuses

Economic partner-

• Total investment grew to around $1 billion in 2007
• Funding two major development projects, th Hambantota Port and the Puttalam Coal Power Project
• Exploring for oil in the Mannar province of Sri Lanka

Diplomatic ally -

• Publicly supports the Sri Lankan government in the civil war, calling it a fight against terrorism
• In 2007, blocked efforts at the UN Human Rights Council to criticize Sri Lanka's human rights record
• 2007 was official ‘year of friendship' between China and Sri Lanka

China's interest: Natural resources, strategic location (on the Indian Ocean)

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Map of North Korean Gulags (HRNK)

Country: North Korea

Regime: Dictatorship under Kim Jong Il

Accused of:

• Complete denial of basic freedoms
• Incarceration of up to 200,000 citizens in concentration camps, many on mere suspicion of subversion
• Use of arbitrary killing, disappearance, detention and torture to maintain control

China's role:

Largest economic partner-

• In 2006, total trade close to $2 billion
• A growing number of Chinese firms are investing in North Korea and gaining preferable trading terms
• North Korea receives about 70% of its food and 70-80% of its fuel from China

Diplomatic ally -

• Repeatedly blocked UN Security Council resolutions that would have imposed sanctions on North Korea
• Cooperated under pressure with international efforts to end the North Korea nuclear program

China's interest: Natural resources, fear of the collapse of a neighboring state

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Extraordinary Risk: China in Somalia

When western firms shy away from investing in countries where mass atrocities are occurring, it's not purely out of concern for human rights. These countries are highly unstable investing environments, and ventures there by Chinese state-owned firms show the extraordinary level of risk they are willing to take in the pursuit of natural resources.

Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than in Somalia. Chinese firms have entered into agreements for oil exploration in two regions of Somalia, one of the world's most fragile states. The Somaliland and Puntland regions have been more secure than the rest of Somalia in recent years, but their future is far from certain and the region as a whole remains wracked by violence. As if to prove the point, in January 2008, Islamic insurgents bombed two Ethiopian restaurants in the port of Bosasso in Puntland, killing 20 people. What's more, Somalia does not yet have a national oil law, so Chinese investments at this point in time may be subject to later revision under new law

It is unlikely that Somalia will see stability any time soon, therefore China's oil development may prove at best rash and at worst, a potent new addition to an already volatile mix of partnerships with governments committing mass atrocities.

Country: Somalia

Regime: Transitional Federal Government under President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed

Accused of:

• All parties in Somalia stand accused of large scale human rights abuses and war crimes. These include attacks on civilians, kidnapping, torture, rape, arbitrary detention, recruitment of child soldiers. Because of the weak legal system, there is almost total impunity for these violations.

China's role:

Economic partner -

• In May 2001, two Chinese state-owned firms signed an oil exploration agreement with the government of Somaliland, a northern region that has declared autonomy
• In May 2006, two more Chinese firms signed an oil deal with President Yusuf and local authorities in Puntland, also a semi-autonomous region

China's interest: Natural resources