Chinese–Libyan relations refers to the

bilateral relation Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

s between

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and Libya. China and Libya established diplomatic relations in August 1978.

Diplomatic relations

The two countries established relations on 9 August 1978. Relations between China and Libya have often been difficult. In 2006, relations became strained when

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

was hosting China's foreign minister in Libya to affirm Libya's agreement with the One China Principle while Gaddafi's son simultaneously met Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian in Taipei and invited him to Libya in an effort to build ties. During the 2011 Libyan crisis, pressure from the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

and the

Arab League The Arab League ( ar, الجامعة العربية, ' ), formally the League of Arab States ( ar, جامعة الدول العربية, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world, which is located in Northern Africa, Western Africa, E ...

prompted China to support an arms embargo, travel ban, and asset freeze and to abstain from voting on United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which established a no-fly zone.

Economic relations

In the first 8 months of 2012, Libya was China's 5th largest trading partner in Africa.

Military relations

In 1970, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his Prime Minister Abdessalam Jalloud made an unsuccessful attempt to convince China to sell tactical nuclear weapons to Libya. In a bilateral meeting with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Zhou Enlai, Gaddafi unsuccessfully attempted to convince Zhou to sell him a nuclear bomb. Investigators have found that nuclear weapons designs obtained by Libya through a Pakistani smuggling network originated in China. On 5 September 2012, Libyan NTC spokesman Abdulrahman Busin, said the NTC has hard evidence that Gaddafi bought arms from China. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu has confirmed arms sales talks with Gaddafi forces, but no arms were delivered.

Chinese development finance to Libya

From 2000 to 2012, there were 3 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Libya through various media reports. Three batches of humanitarian aid goods were delivered in 2011, an MOU of investment cooperation in the fields of transportation, farming, irrigation, fishing and the textiles, and a US$300 million low-interest loan to the LAP Green Network, a Libyan telecom firm in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:China-Libya relations Bilateral relations of Libya Libya Libya

Diplomatic relations

Economic relations

Military relations

Chinese development finance to Libya

See also

References