Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang angrily denied allegations from human rights groups, think tanks and the international media that Beijing had turned a blind eye to rights violations to secure oil.

"We will not repeat the record of the then Western colonists who bloodily plundered and violated human rights," Qin told a regular briefing.

"China is a responsible country. On the international stage, we maintain peace, cooperation and development."

A report in January by the Council on Foreign Relations, a US-based non-partisan research group, said China is one of the main purchasers of oil from Sudan and also sells weapons to the Sudanese government.

China bought 50 percent of Sudan's oil exports in 2005 accounting for five percent of China's oil needs, it said.

Meanwhile, China has blocked efforts to pressure the Sudanese regime over the Darfur conflict in the United Nations Security Council.

It is also accused of backing other regimes that violate human rights, including Myanmar, Angola and Zimbabwe.

Qin argued that in its trade with nations such as Sudan, China helped improve the lives of local people and develop the local economy.

"China is clean in this respect, including in the Sudan issue. We have all along played a positive and constructive role on promoting Sudan's peace and stability," Qin said.

However, Qin declined to explain China's decision this week to abstain from voting on a Security Council resolution ordering financial and travel sanctions on four Sudanese, including a general and militia leader, blamed for bloodshed and rights abuses in Darfur.

Beijing often reiterates its policy of "non-interference" in other countries' internal affairs to explain its stance in similar matters.

China's UN representative Wang Guangya had said Beijing believed sanctions could adversely affect inter-Sudanese peace talks in Abuja, Nigeria.

Russia and Qatar also abstained.

The Security Council vote came more than a year after it authorised sanctions against those responsible for the Darfur strife, where rebels and government-backed militias have been battling since February 2003.

The conflict has left up to 300,000 people dead from violence or disease and more than 2.4 million homeless. Washington has branded the violence as "genocide."

US President George W. Bush also raised the issue of Sudan with visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao last week.

Last year China bought 38.47 million tonnes of African oil, about 30 percent of total imports, nine percent more than in 2004. Its biggest African suppliers were Angola, Sudan and Republic of Congo, according to Chinese figures.

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