Oil, security and community engagement

A collection of essays on China’s growing role in South Sudan

Independence in South Sudan has brought tangible benefits to only a small minority of people. Pervasive violent conflict, driven by local and regional factors, is arguably the country’s most pressing challenge. While conflict dynamics are rooted in local, national, and regional factors, international actors can have an impact, which can be positive in some cases and more negative in others.

Saferworld’s recent research has shown that China’s growing commercial engagement and development assistance to South Sudan will undoubtedly have implications for peace and conflict dynamics. Whether China will play a positive role in South Sudan’s development depends significantly on the level of expertise among Chinese policymakers on conflict dynamics in South Sudan, which at the moment remains limited, with few Chinese scholars afforded the opportunity to conduct independent field research in South Sudan.

This report goes some way towards filling this knowledge gap, with joint research having been carried out by Chinese, South Sudanese, and other international researchers in South Sudan. This collection intends to create a better understanding of conflict issues and people-centred security in South Sudan among a wider set of Chinese actors, including those in the commercial sector. It aims to identify policy recommendations for how China can better support long-term peace and stability in the country.

A second aim of this report is to encourage a deeper understanding among South Sudanese civil society on the nature of China’s engagement in South Sudan so it is better able to hold the Government of South Sudan accountable for its relations with China.

And third, by creating a space for dialogue and a process of discussion and interaction among this broad array of researchers, new relationships will be built, giving South Sudanese researchers direct channels to the Chinese policy community, thus helping to shape China’s conflict-sensitive engagement in South Sudan.

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石油、安全与社区互动 - 中国在南苏丹日益增长的作用

摘要

        南苏丹的独立仅仅给极少数人带来了切实的利益。普遍的暴力冲突可以说是这个国家面临的最紧迫的挑战。虽然冲突的根源在于这些国内和区域性因素，但国际参与者也可能会对南苏丹的冲突状况产生影响。这种影响可能是积极的，在某些情况下也可能是消极的。

         更安全世界的近期研究表明，中国在南苏丹日益增长的商业投资和发展援助无疑会影响到当地的和平与冲突。从某种意义上来说，中国政策制定者对南苏丹的冲突态势理解越深刻，那么中国就越有可能在南苏丹的和平发展中发挥更积极的作用。目前来看，很少有中国学者能有机会在南苏丹进行独立的实地调研，其对南苏丹在冲突态势方面的专业知识还有进步的空间。

         今年四月和七月，更安全世界两次在南苏丹组织实地调研。来自中国、南苏丹和其他国家的研究人员参与了调研活动。本报告中收录的九篇文章在此基础上撰写而成。我们希望本报告能为相关领域的专业知识在中国的拓展尽绵薄之力，帮助包括商业参与者在内的更广大的中国参与者更好地理解南苏丹的冲突问题和以人为本的安全问题，并为中国如何更有效的地支持南苏丹的长期和平与稳定提出建议。

         同时，我们希望能鼓励南苏丹民间社会更深入地了解中国在南苏丹的工作，以便更好地敦促南苏丹政府处理好两国关系。

         最后，我们希望通过在这个广泛的研究者阵营中创造对话、讨论和互动的空间，建立新的沟通，让南苏丹研究者直接接触到中国的政策制定群体，从而帮助中国在参与南苏丹事务时具备对冲突的敏感性。

“These contributions helpfully underline the need to engage with but also go beyond the central state in Juba, as part of a multi-tiered approach connecting local relations to the broader national and international political and corporate processes these are bound up in.”

Daniel Large