China\u27s Role in the Darfur Crisis: An Inquiry into Global Ethics

As the rise of globalization allows for greater trade, communication, and information sharing than ever before, the way states interact with one another and the world as a whole is being redefined. The rapid economic development that has occurred globally in the last century has not necessarily been accompanied with improvements in human rights worldwide. Now more than ever, there is a need to consider a global code of ethics. Though the role of states in advancing and policing human rights has been explored in innumerable treaties, conventions and other documents, there is currently no clearly defined standard of conduct for nations. The lack of a criterion combined with the complexity of cultural relativism has often led to ambiguity and stalemate by the international community in the face of heinous human rights violations. This thesis will explore the issue of the need for a standard of global ethics by focusing on Sudan, where China’s economic investment has possibly influenced current human rights issues, particularly in the Darfur region. It will examine China’s policies toward Sudan in light of the conflict in Darfur and will use this situation as a microcosm with which to analyze the complexities of dealing with a human rights issue multilaterally. In addition, it will compare China’s theories about ethics to those of both Western nations and multilateral institutions such as the United Nations. Finally, it will provide an overall assessment of China’s role in the Darfur crisis. il