China defends oil trade with Africa

China defended its booming oil trade with Africa on Monday, and said Europe and the United States should look at their own engagement on the continent before criticizing Beijing.

China has huge oil investments in Sudan, and rights groups say its engagement there is frustrating international efforts to stop the civil war and atrocities in Darfur.

Africa as a whole accounts for more than one-third of China’s crude imports, with Angola its biggest source on the continent.

“What China has done for Africa is out of a sincere feeling, out of friendship from the bottom of the heart forged in past decades, but I have heard some criticism,” Commerce Minister Bo Xilai told a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese Parliament.

IHT