Renew Traditional Friendship and Elevate China-Sudan Strategic Partnership to New Height
القائم باعمال سفارة الصين بالسودان شو جيان
By Xu Jian, Chargé d’Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Sudan
2025 marks the 10th anniversary of China-Sudan strategic partnership. It is a milestone in the history of China-Sudan relations. In September 2024, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President of the Sovereign Council of Sudan Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in Beijing. Meeting again since 2022, the two heads of state reached important consensus, steering the course and drawing up a blueprint for the future of China-Sudan strategic partnership. Over the years, and particularly since the strategic partnership was forged, China-Sudan relations, characterized by sincere friendship, mutual respect, equality, and win-win for mutual benefit and common development, have been progressing steadily, setting a model for China’s relations with Arab states and African countries. It has provided valuable experience for the Global South’s pursuit of self-strength through unity.
China and Sudan enjoy a long history of friendly exchanges and ever-stronger political mutual trust. China-Sudan relations are steeped in history. Chinese merchant caravans brought silk in ancient times to Sudan via the Red Sea. In 1959, the two nations officially established diplomatic relations, opening up a new chapter for bilateral relations. Years later in 1964, Premier Zhou Enlai, together with Vice Premier Chen Yi, paid a historic visit to Sudan. As the two nations forged a strategic partnership in 2015, bilateral relations entered a new historical stage. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, and in particular since the elevation of the relationship to a strategic partnership, the two nations have stood together and supported each other during trying times. The two nations have given each other understanding and support on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns, and kept increasing experience sharing on state governance. China supports Sudan in upholding its sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity and in pursuing a development path suited to its national conditions. And Sudan stays committed to the one-China principle and supports China’s great cause of reunification.
Fruitful cooperation between China-Sudan has brought mutual benefits and win-win results to the two peoples. In the 1990s, Chinese oil enterprises started to enter Sudan. Since then, the two nations have worked hand in hand and successfully built a complete industrial chain that encompasses exploration, exploitation, transportation, refining and the marketing of oil and gas. The Merowe Dam, the Roseires Dam and the Upper Atbara and Setit Dam Complex, three magnificent cooperation projects delivered between the two nations, are now shown on Sudan’s banknote. As for poverty reduction, the two nations have been working actively to advance cooperation in this regard. The poverty alleviation and agricultural sector support project in Sudan’s Red Sea State has already been initiated. It is expected to help Sudan bolster agricultural resilience and achieve greater food security. After China and Sudan signed Belt and Road cooperation documents in 2017, bilateral practical cooperation has gained new momentum, and new opportunities have been created for Sudan to boost the resilience of development and its development capacity. Under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, bilateral practical cooperation has kept expanding, delivering tangible benefits to the two peoples.
Frequent people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Sudan have enhanced mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples. 54 years ago, 50 Sudanese children travelled with their dreams across the ocean to China to learn acrobatic performances. After finishing their training in China, they returned home and formed the Sudan Acrobatic Troupe which has now been a well-known national treasure and hailed as the “flower of China-Sudan friendship”. The troupe has exerted extensive influence in Sudan and indeed across Africa and the Arab world, making significant contributions to China-Sudan, China-Africa and China-Arab friendship. Moreover, China has stationed a medical assistance team to Sudan since 1971. Medical workers of the team have offered medical services to 8.22 million sick people and conducted more than 200,000 operations. They have also carried out the “Brightness Action” program multiple times whereby over 1,000 cataract patients restored sight. In fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, China provided vaccines and other medical supplies, in spite of its own difficulties, to help Sudan’s fight against the virus. Sudanese teachers set up Chinese language training agencies on their own initiative. They dedicated themselves to teaching Chinese language despite the challenging conditions, making their contributions to motivating Sudanese youth to learn the language and explore Chinese culture.
Coordination and collaboration between China and Sudan at the international level has been enhanced to uphold world peace and development. As members of the developing world, China and Sudan share identical or similar views on major international and regional issues. The two nations have supported and cooperated closely with each other on major issues including human rights, climate change and the U.N. Security Council reform, playing their part in defending the common interests of the developing countries. Under the framework of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Sudan cooperation has been deepened in a way to prompt the Global South countries to seek self-reliance and strength through unity. China highly appreciates Sudan’s active support for the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) that was just proposed by President Xi Jinping on September 1 of this year. China looks forward to seeing Sudan play a bigger role on the global stage and work together for a community with a shared future for humanity.
Over the past decade, the two nations have braved wind and rain, with their hands always held firmly together. With joint efforts of the two sides, China-Sudan strategic partnership has stood the test of changing international circumstances and achieved fruitful outcomes in various fields, bringing benefits to the two peoples and showing great vigor and vitality. However, the world is now undergoing momentous changes unseen in a century. As China and Sudan are both at a critical stage of national development, maintaining and further growing their strategic partnership serves the fundamental interests of the two nations and peoples. We are confident that under the guidance of the two heads of state, China and Sudan will join hands to deepen political mutual trust, expand practical cooperation, strengthen people-to-people exchanges and advance global governance, so as to open up a new horizon for our strategic partnership.
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