Trip to China highlights key areas of collaboration on conflict sensitivity, arms control and the post-2015 development agenda

From 17-21 March Saferworld and local partners held a series of events in Beijing and Shanghai with key Chinese stakeholders on issues around conflict sensitivity and South Sudan, arms control and  the post-2015 development agenda. A range of African and Chinese scholars and officials, including a delegation of ten international arms control experts and a delegation of four civil society representatives from South Sudan attended.

The meetings aimed to improve understanding of issues around conflict sensitivity, particularly among Chinese commercial actors operating in South Sudan; looked at practical ways to address the proliferation of small arms and light weapons in Eastern Africa, with Chinese and other international high-ranking government officials, diplomats, scholars and experts; and highlighted the links between peace and development and China’s potential role on peace and the post-2015 development process with scholars, policy makers and civil society representatives from China and Africa. 

“The trip to China highlighted to me the expertise and interest of Chinese actors to engage on sensitive issues around conflict-affected states and demonstrated their highly nuanced understanding, particularly in relation to the recent conflict in South Sudan,” Saferworld’s Executive Director Paul Murphy who attended the events in Beijing commented. “From the technical knowledge of arms experts, to the willingness to engage with a variety of actors from different perspectives, we saw how China has the interest and potential to contribute even more to international conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts.”

CONFLICT SENSITIVITY AND SOUTH SUDAN
As part of the China Programme’s project ’Promoting and Facilitating China’s Conflict Sensitive Engagement in South Sudan’ Saferworld held a series of events and meetings with key stakeholders to increase dialogue on how China’s economic cooperation in the development, infrastructure, and extractive sectors could be more conflict-sensitive.

The China team accompanied a delegation of South Sudanese civil society delegates to meetings with Amb Zhong Jianhua, China’s Special Envoy for African Affairs, and the South Sudanese embassy in Beijing. The meetings created opportunities to discuss China’s response to the recent outbreak of hostilities in South Sudan and its potential future role in helping build peace in the country.

With the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) Saferworld co-hosted a seminar on ‘China’s role in supporting long-term peace and stability in conflict affected and fragile states: lessons learned from the recent crisis in South Sudan’. Participants (including around 60 scholars, officials and diplomats and commercial representatives) debated the recent background to the conflict in South Sudan, what the future holds for the country, China’s role in the recent conflict and the implications for China’s future engagement in South Sudan.

One South Sudanese civil society representative commented, “This seminar was very useful in allowing us to inform influential Chinese scholars, officials, diplomats and commercial representatives of what the real situation on the ground is in South Sudan.”

As part of Saferworld’s work to engage commercial actors to understand and address the new challenges China faces in supporting stability overseas Saferworld and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) co-hosted a workshop on ‘Managing risk in South Sudan: A conflict-sensitive approach for Chinese businesses’. Designed to explore how a conflict-sensitive approach can help Chinese companies manage risk in South Sudan and maximise social, environmental and economic benefits to local communities and national government  the workshop was attended by a range of Chinese company representatives engaged in South Sudan, including CNPC, ZTE, Shandong High-Speed and Sinohydro, along with a representative from the China Africa Development Fund (under the China Development Bank), Chinese scholars conducting research on this subject and the South Sudanese delegates.

The event created a crucial opportunity for Chinese businesses operating in South Sudan to gain a first-hand account of the primary factors underpinning the current political instability in South Sudan. Participants began to analyse the risks these factors pose to Chinese businesses and the ways in which Chinese companies might unintentionally increase tensions.  A Chinese participant in Saferworld-CNPC workshop gave this overview of the workshop: “A conflict sensitive approach is not about promoting the use of tough security measures led by the military or private security companies, but about enhancing the transparency of companies’ operations and establishing harmonious relations with the local community. It fits well with the concept of harmonious society that Chinese culture emphasises. It provides great practical value to Chinese business actors operating in unstable regions.”

Saferworld then held a roundtable event at the Chinese University of Political Science and Law for scholars and students on the subject of the South Sudanese constitution. Participants discussed the process of reviewing the transitional constitution, the gender conscious aspects of the constitution and aspects of the constitution that might have indirectly contributed to conflict in South Sudan. An active discussion followed in which participants debated best practices in devising a constitution and addressing gender-based discrimination in South Sudan and China.

SMALL ARMS
As part of Saferworld’s continued support to the Africa-China-EU Expert Working Group (EWG) on Conventional Arms, a seminar on  ‘Supporting Peace and Security in Africa: Towards Collaborative Actions for Combating Illicit Small Arms and Ammunition’ was held in Beijing. Co-hosted by the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association (CACDA), Saferworld, and the Africa Peace Forum (APFO), the seminar was attended by over 60 participants, including members of the Africa-China-EU EWG, Chinese and other international high-ranking government officials, diplomats, scholars and experts. The meeting greatly benefited from the participation and active engagement of the Hon Pereira A. Silima, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs of Tanzania.

Sessions focused on addressing the problems of small arms and light weapons (SALW) and ammunition in Eastern Africa with respect to the impact of national, regional and international initiatives. Attendees debated the challenges related to enhancing capacity and cooperation to tackle illicit SALW and ammunition in Eastern Africa, focussing on practical areas of intervention where technical assistance requests in the field of tackling SALW proliferation/trafficking can be linked to external, including Chinese and EU, assistance.

On 19 March, the delegation of arms control experts and the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s Department of African Affairs met to discuss the proliferation of SALW which imposes enormous threats to the security and development in Africa, both sides agreed to work closely together to tackle this issue.

CHINA AND POST-2015

Saferworld continued to engage  on issues around China’s potential role on peace and the post-2015 agenda with two events designed to facilitate dialogue within China on the post-2015 process. ‘The 6^th Ministerial Conference of FOCAC and Post-2015 Development Agenda’, held in Shanghai on 17-18 March, looked at how China and Africa can build common ground on the post-2015 agenda. Co-hosted by Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS), Saferworld and the Centre for China Studies of Stellenbosch University, the conference was attended by around 40 participants, including representatives from think tanks and policy makers from China and Africa, international organisations, and related partners.

A roundtable discussion on ‘The Global Development Framework from 2015: What is the role for peace?’ held in Beijing on 21 March was co-hosted by the Chinese People’s Association for Peace and Disarmament (CPAPD) and Saferworld. The event aimed to promote discussion on the linkages between peace and development and the role of peace in the new global development framework. Sessions focused on progress on the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) due to expire in 2015 and the path ahead for the Post-2015 MDGs agenda, as well as on perspectives on development and peace. The conference was attended by around 25 participants including government officials, scholars and civil society representatives from China and other developing countries.

Looking forward, Saferworld’s China team will be holding follow-up research trips, seminars, workshops and producing reports under each of the projects mentioned above, to further build on the key areas of collaboration established during this trip.

Read more about Saferworld’s work on China

Read more about Africa-China-EU Dialogue on Conventional Arms

Read more on Saferworld’s work on Rising Powers and Post-2015

“From the technical knowledge of arms experts, to the willingness to engage with a variety of actors from different perspectives, we saw how China has the interest and potential to contribute even more to international conflict prevention and peacebuilding efforts”

Paul Murphy