Critics are eyeing Chinese oil and gas exploration activity around the world, not least in Sudan where, it is claimed, Beijing is ruthlessly exploiting the government’s economic vulnerabilities.That’s what London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper suggested last week, explaining that Beijing is “taking advantage of the large deficit in the Sudanese government’s budget and its need for weapons.”The paper said Beijing now buys oil from Khartoum “for peanuts” at a mere $13/bbl, adding that this grade of crude-all from Sudan’s southern oil fields-fetches “many times” that price on the international market.It said China buys two thirds...