(Updates with comments from Chinese president, paragraphs 1-7) By Chris Buckley BEIJING, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao told his Sudanese counterpart on Thursday that he wants to expand ties and he understands Sudan's concerns about its war-wracked Darfur region, where Western powers want to send U.N. peacekeepers. Beijing is hosting dozens of African leaders for a summit opening on Friday and intended to show China as a benign force for development on the largely poor continent. But among them is Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused by critics of abetting a vicious civil conflict in Darfur. Hu signalled that China remains sympathetic to Bashir's objections to a proposed U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, while nudging Bashir towards accommodation. "The Darfur issue is again at a critical juncture," Hu told Bashir, according to Chinese state television. "China totally understands Sudan's concerns on this issue, and hopes Sudan will strengthen dialogue with all parties, coordinate stances, and strive to reach an appropriate solution." Hu told Bashir he wanted to raise cooperation between their two countries to a "new level", including projects in telecommunications, agriculture, infrastructure and water works. China has lucrative commercial stakes in Sudan, which sells it large amounts of oil, and is a major arms supplier to the country. Beijing has resisted calls to authorise U.N. peacekeepers in Darfur without the nod from Khartoum. On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao stood by that position. "We also argue that the United Nations should and can play a positive and effective role in the Darfur issue," Liu told a regular news briefing. "What specific measures should be adopted must receive the approval of the Sudanese government, and the reasonable concerns of Sudan must be addressed in an appropriate manner." As well as meeting Hu, Bashir opened a new Sudanese embassy in Beijing, one of his country's largest diplomat posts. Western leaders, some African presidents, and humanitarian groups are piling pressure on Bashir to accept a U.N. resolution to deploy more than 20,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops in Darfur, which has been rent by political and ethnic violence since 2003. They say this is the only way to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in the west Sudanese region, where tens of thousands have been killed and more than 2 million displaced by fighting between government troops, rebels and militias. The conflict has pitted mostly non-Arab rebels against the Arab-dominated government and Janjaweed militia. All sides have been accused of grave human rights violations. China has backed peacekeeping efforts in Darfur by the African Union, a regional grouping. But Washington, London and many human rights groups say the 7,000-strong AU force is not enough to halt the fighting there.
