The secretary-general of the SPLM-Juba faction of South Sudan’s now divided ruling party says that the party needs Chinese support to develop and maintain solid cadres. But she said the party is not a communist party.

Itto made these remarks today after receiving members of SPLM state secretariats who will travel to China. The 20 delegates will be headed by Daniel Awet, a member of the Political Bureau SPLM-Juba.

She said the cadres will be leaving this week for classroom training lasting for ten days in China.  

“This is the second batch. Last month from the 14th to 25th I led a delegation of 20 at the invitation of CPC for a ten days visit. This training that we have held with China is the result of a Memorandum of Understanding that SPLM and Communist Party signed in 2011 and it runs for four years,” Itto said.

Itto added that so far this year the Chinese communist party has trained 40 members of SPLM, which will facilitate the sharing and exchange of information in the future.

The party official acknowledged that the 15 December crisis was a big blow to the SPLM party but claimed they are still working for peace. “If we want peace and stability, we need China also,” she said.