SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The current importance of China in Sudan was demonstrated in three offi cial political anniversaries celebrated in 2009. The fi rst was the ‘Golden Jubilee’ anniversary commemorating 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and Sudan, celebrated with a series of events starting on 4 February 2009 and a glowing rhetoric about the historic successes and future promise of today’s burgeoning ties. The second was the twentieth anniversary of Sudan’s military coup of 30 June 1989 orchestrated by the National Islamic Front (NIF), the forerunner of today’s ruling northern National Congress Party (NCP). The third anniversary marked Sudan’s fi rst decade as an oil exporter. At the end of August 1999, just over two decades after oil was fi rst discovered, Sudan’s fi rst cargo of Nile Blend crude shipped from Port Bashair, south of Port Sudan, following a process of accelerated, militarised oil development in which Chinese oil companies played a crucial role in turning Sudan into a functioning oil exporter.