Despite the tradition of 'noninterference' of international affairs, especially matters related to human/civil rights, China, in the UNSC meeting, voted on February 25 for sanctioning against Qaddafi and the Libya authority who harmed civilians. People believe that China's decision was for the safety of over 30K Chinese workers and citizens in Libya. However, in less than a month, the permanent member of the UNSC abstained from the vote on the resolution to allow 'all necessary measures' to stop Qaddafi. There have been rigorous debates on China's 'contradicting' stances regarding Libya's issue. According to China, it has 'serious reservations' about imposition of a no-fly zone in Libya but it gave up the veto power amid requests from the Arab League and the African Union.
China adopts a 2-fold strategy on oil investments in Africa. First, it secures deals with smaller countries such as Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, and the Republic of Congo as large oil producers such as Nigeria and Angola have built closed relationship with western countries. Second, it approaches these large producers by offering 'integrated packages of aid'. Recently, the Chinese ambassador to Angola, Zhang Bolun unveiled that China has loaned a total of $14.5B to Angola for national developments of the country. China receives a secured stake of oil supply in return. In 2009, Angola exported 644K bpd of oil to China, surpassing Iran to be the second largest source of Chinese imports after Saudi Arabia. While some market participants find it 'unusual' when China favored sanctioning Libya despite the country's heavy oil demand, the fact is that oil from Libya take up only 3% of China's total imports. The benefits to China are far more than the costs if the UN successfully contains the unrest and stabilizes global oil prices.
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