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"...one of the most important principles is not to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries"

Late last week, a Chinese cargo ship carrying arms bound for Zimbabwe left the port of Durban in South Africa following a legal decision preventing the offload of its cache of weapons.

South Africa's government had said it could not legally prevent the arms being transported through the country but the high court in Durban ruled that the cargo could not be moved overland, though it could be discharged in the port.

The ship contains three million rounds of ammunition for AK-47s, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and several thousand mortar rounds, according to South Africa's Mail and Guardian newspaper.

The South African state-owned arms company, (not to be confused with the Philippines company of the same name) agreed to transport the weapons overland across South Africa to Zimbabwe after several private companies demurred. The South African government said that it was in no position to interfere in commerce between two sovereign nations, as there are currently no arms embargoes against Zimbabwe. That said, a number of countries (and the entire EU) have banned arms shipments to Zimbabwe.

The Chinese government, not particularly concerned about what happens in Zimbabwe but very concerned about not letting people touch its internal dealings, replied with the title quote of this post when challenged on the issue of sending arms into such an unstable nation.

BBC article

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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on April 21, 2008 01:42 PM.

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