President Bush met today with Chinese President Hu Jintao (I refuse to pun with Mr. Hu's name!), and Darfur apparently made the shortlist. Money quote from President Bush's welcoming statement:

Prosperity depends on security -- so the United States and China share a strategic interest in enhancing security for both our peoples. We intend to deepen our cooperation in addressing threats to global security -- including the nuclear ambitions of Iran, the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, the violence unleashed by terrorists and extremists, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

This is vital, because China has been Khartoum's chief ally in the Security Council. Why? A principle of Chinese foreign policy, stemming partly from its own shabby human rights record, is to resist UN intervention in other countries' internal affairs. China also has a huge stake in the Sudanese oil industry and gets 5% or more of its growing oil needs from Sudan. In December, I discussed the increasing Chinese presence in Africa as well as its interests in Sudan with Ambassador Princeton Lyman of the Council on Foreign Relations -- you can listen to the interview here and read the transcript here. My sense is that one point US officials make to their Chinese counterparts is that Darfur is on the agenda because there is an active public constituency. All the more reason for citizens to continue to communicate their concern.