Media Talk: Oil and Chinese Foreign Policy - £7 February 22, 2007

With Lindsey Hilsum (Channel 4), Isabel Hilton (Chinadialogue.net), Brad Adams (Human Rights Watch) and Wen Guang Shao (Phoenix TV, Hong Kong). Others – TBC.

Join us as we discuss how, with China’s ever growing need for raw materials, the country’s foreign policy is changing.

Trade between China and Africa grew by 39 percent to £10 billion in the first 10 months of the last year. But with interests in the Sudanese and Angolan oil industry, China has been reluctant to attack the Sudanese government for the bloodshed in Darfur.

Nearly 45% of China's oil imports last year were from the Middle East. No wonder that China is seeking a more active role in the area and seems to be succeeding in being on good terms with all parties involved.

Our panel discusses how this new South-South trade affects the international diplomatic status quo.

Brad Adams is the Asia Director of Human Rights Watch - TBC.

Lindsey Hilsum is the head of Channel 4 News' China bureau.

Isabel Hilton is a London-based international journalist and broadcaster. She is Editor of www.chinadialogue.net, a bi-lingual website with a focus on the environment, and www.opendemocracy.net.

Wen Guang Shao is the Director of Phoenix TV (Hong Kong) in London.

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