By Michael Martina and Ben Blanchard
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese
President Hu Jintao called for restraint from the two Sudans on Tuesday after South Sudan President Salva Kiir told Hu that
his country’s larger northern neighbour had declared war on the newly-independent state.
honour guard with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (not pictured) during an official welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of
the People in Beijing April 24, 2012. REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic
Hu “stated that he very much hoped that both Sudans would proceed from the broader considerations of
the fundamental interests of both countries’ people and regional peace and stability and adhere to choosing peace,
respecting each others’ sovereignty and exercising calm and restraint,” state television said.
He urged both sides to
settle their disputes through peaceful negotiations and give and take, it added.
“The urgent task is to actively
cooperate with the mediation efforts of the international community and halt armed conflict in the border areas,” the report
paraphrased Hu as telling Kiir during a meeting in Beijing.
“China sincerely hopes that South Sudan and Sudan can
become good neighbours who coexist in amity and good partners who develop together,” Hu added.
Kiir told Hu that Sudan
had declared war on his newly-independent country, following weeks of border fighting between the two countries.
“It
(this visit) comes at a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbour in Khartoum has declared
war on the Republic of South Sudan,” Kiir said.
“I have undertaken this visit because of the great relationship that I
value with China. China is one of our economic and strategic partners,” he added.
Kiir’s visit comes days after he
ordered troops to withdraw from the oil-rich Heglig region after seizing it from Sudan, a move that brought the two countries
to the brink of all-out war.
Sudanese war planes bombed a market in the capital of South Sudan’s oil-producing Unity
State on Monday, residents and officials said, an attack the southern army called a declaration of war.
Sudan denied
carrying out any air raids but its President Omar Hassan al-Bashir ramped up the political tension by ruling out a return to
negotiations with the South, saying its government only understood “the language of the gun”.
Weeks of border fighting
have brought the neighbours closer to a full-blown war than at any time since South Sudan split from Sudan as an independent
country in July.
The two territories went their separate ways last year without settling a list of bitter disputes
over the position of their shared border, the ownership of key territories and how much the landlocked South should pay to
transport its oil through Sudan.
The disputes have already halted nearly all the oil production that underpins both
struggling economies.
For China, invested in the oil sector of both nations, the standoff shows how its economic
expansion abroad has at times forced Beijing to deal with distant quarrels it would like to avoid.
Sudan had been one
of China’s top foreign suppliers of crude oil, but the latest Chinese customs data show crude imports from Sudan fell nearly
40 percent in January and February compared to a year earlier.