Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir was in Beijing as part of a six-day visit to China. He said he appreciated China's role in helping resolve the bloodshed in Darfur, where more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million others displaced since February 2003, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"China's stance on the Darfur issue is consistent and China has played a constructive role," Zeng said, according to a television. "China will actively push for an early resolution to the Darfur issue."

China's involvement in Sudan is becoming a liability as the country tries to act as a responsible power while welcoming the world to the 2008 Olympics, a massive source of national pride.

Liu Guijin, China's special envoy to Sudan, has said China was instrumental in a June diplomatic breakthrough in which Sudan's government finally agreed to let a strong force of UN and African Union peacekeepers be deployed in Darfur.