China on the 28th (local time) wiped out four interest-free Vice Minister loans to Sudan totaling 344.52 million yuan (about $50 million·77.1 billion won). According to Sudan's state-run SUNA on the 29th, the two countries signed a new protocol that day at Port Sudan, the country's largest port, and said the debt would be canceled with immediate effect. China Development Bank added that it would handle the settlement procedures for the canceled Vice Minister loans with the Sudan Central Bank.
The Vice Minister loan forgiveness came just days after the United States on the 26th unveiled new sanctions targeting the Sudanese government. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on the 26th added to its sanctions list the people responsible for fueling the civil war and related parties, under a bill previously approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. These currently include Sudan's leadership and the state-owned airline. At the same time, it inserted provisions directing U.S. leadership at international financial institutions, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to prevent the Sudanese government from receiving loans or debt relief.
In 2021, Sudan agreed through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank's Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative to clear more than $50 billion (about 77.15 trillion won) in debt within three years. But the plan unraveled when the military launched a coup in Oct. of the same year. The initiative process also stopped a year later.
With the West locking the funding channels to Sudan, China is almost the only lifeline. Judging by the size of this write-off alone, it is not a big boost to Sudan's economy. Before the war, Sudan's external debt exceeded $56 billion (about 86.4 trillion won). Based on that external debt, the amount forgiven this time does not reach even 1%. Even after the Vice Minister loan forgiveness that day, Sudan still owes China more than $5 billion (about 7.715 trillion won).
Sudan has been in civil war for more than three years. The U.N. tallied that the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shrank Sudan's economy by about 40%. The civil war death toll has exceeded 1.5 million. The number of internally displaced people is about 14 million, roughly a quarter of the total population. The World Health Organization (WHO) assessed that the number of medical facilities operating normally in Sudan is under 14% of the minimum needed. The value of the Sudanese pound jumped from about 600 pounds per dollar before the war to more than 5,000 pounds in June 2026. Over the past year, the currency's value fell to below one-eighth.
By contrast, China has showcased its regional clout by remaining Africa's largest trading partner for 17 consecutive years. The China-Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University calculated that China wrote off at least $3.4 billion (about 5.2462 trillion won) in interest-free debt across the African continent from 2000 to 2019. Forgiving interest-free Vice Minister loans is a diplomatic card China repeatedly brings up at Africa-level summits. The debts China wipes out as if making a magnanimous decision on the African diplomatic stage are mostly limited to "small interest-free Vice Minister loans (in the nature of foreign aid)" paid directly from the Chinese government budget. Al Jazeera called this "closer to a transaction to buy major influence with small loans."
By contrast, the massive sums African countries borrow from "policy banks" such as the Export-Import Bank of China to build large-scale infrastructure like roads and ports are thoroughly commercial loans aimed at revenue. Large commercial Vice Minister loans routed through policy banks carry high interest and are not easily erased. From the policy banks' perspective, not only huge principal but also massive interest revenue is at stake, so it is difficult for the Chinese government to easily wipe out or forgo this enormous liability just to curry diplomatic favor.
Experts said that given the current situation in which the West seeks to isolate Sudan's leadership, even a small write-off hands China a big lever. In Africa, Sudan sits at a key point where the Middle East meets sub-Saharan Africa. The area also hugs the Red Sea and connects to the Suez Canal, a critical route. The economic value of boosting influence at this chokepoint is far greater than $50 million, Al Jazeera reported, citing experts.
China and Sudan have maintained a close relationship since the mid-1990s, when CNPC's entry into Sudan's oil fields served as a catalyst. CNPC poured billions of dollars into building a pipeline to Port Sudan, which was a barren field after Western corporations pulled out due to sanctions. In 2011, the south chose independence, and the new nation of South Sudan took most of the oil fields. Since then, Chinese investment flowing to Sudan has gradually declined.
Gibril Ibrahim, Sudan's finance minister, welcomed the write-off at the signing ceremony and praised the long-standing economic ties between Sudan and China. He said, "Throughout the war, China has continued to invest, while the West, including the United States and European Union (EU) member states, has largely pulled back support." Ibrahim himself has been on the Treasury Department's sanctions list since Sept. last year over alleged involvement in the civil war and ties to Iran. Xu Jian, China's chargé d'affaires to Sudan, said at the ceremony that "China is ready to help rebuild Sudan, which has been destroyed by war." The two countries agreed that they would review ways to lift international financial institution banking sanctions and that resuming CNPC's operations in Sudan is important.