China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya said Tuesday that China continues to advocate a political settlement to the issue of Darfur.

Addressing the UN Security Council, Wang said a political settlement to the issue of Darfur should be reached through dialogue and consultations on the basis of respect for Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

"China supports the dual track strategy of pushing forward political negotiation and peacekeeping deployment in a balanced manner, and looks forward to the central leading role to be played by tripartite mechanism by involving the government of Sudan, the African Union and the United Nations," Wang said.

The Chinese ambassador said the facts have proven that such strategy and mechanism are right approaches to resolve the Darfur issue and have already achieved significant results.

He also said deploying the peacekeeping troop is the unanimous decision of the UN Security Council, "which embodies the common understanding of the entire international community."

"China is seriously concerned over recent remarks made by some rebel groups threatening the safety and security of peacekeepers," he said, adding that "we urge them to follow the general trend of the international situation, cooperate with the united nations, and not to go further in the wrong direction."

The vanguard of the Chinese engineering units arrived in the western Sudanese region of Darfur on Saturday to take part in the hybrid peacekeeping force of the UN and the African Union (AU).

This is the first batch of the UN peacekeepers to arrive in the region to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1769 adopted on July 31, which authorized the deployment of a 26,000-strong hybrid peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Darfur rebels have threatened that as "allies" of the government in Khartoum, the 135 Chinese peacekeepers are not immune from attack.

The UN Security Council held an open debate on Wednesday afternoon to discuss the war-torn region of western Sudan.
 
(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2007)