On the AP wire - but not in the USA

Interesting that this AP story isn't being reported in the USA. Yahoo! Singapore and the Jerusalem Post, yes, but not even on the AP's own Web site Stateside. Maybe the headline is just too much even for AP's US staffers to stomach:

China to continue efforts to bring peace to Darfur

The peace of the grave, for Black Darfurians, that is.

BEIJING - China will continue its efforts to help bring peace to the troubled Darfur region, Vice President Zeng Qinghong said Wednesday during a meeting with a top Sudanese official.

Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir was in Beijing as part of a six-day visit to China. He said he appreciated China's role in helping resolve the bloodshed in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million others displaced since February 2003, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

"China's stance on the Darfur issue is consistent and China has played a constructive role," Zeng said, according to state television. "China will actively push for an early resolution to the Darfur issue."

Consistent, yes: rape and slaughter in Darfur are insignificant unless they impact Chinese commercial interests.

China's involvement in Sudan is becoming a liability as the country tries to portray itself as a responsible power while welcoming the world to the 2008 Olympics, a massive source of national pride.

China, a veto-wielding permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil exports, sells the African country weapons and military aircraft, and has blocked efforts to send U.N. peacekeeping forces to Darfur without Sudanese consent.

Why does the Chinese placing more value on commerce than human rights surprise anyone? After all, one can't expect the Chinese government to care more about the people of Darfur than about its own citizens... which ain't much.