BY NICHOLAS BARIYO IN KAMPALA, UGANDA, AND BRIAN SPEGELE IN BEIJING

The Chinese government has approached newly created South Sudan to help negotiate the release of Chinese captives held by rebels in neighboring Sudan, said a South Sudan official, an unusual diplomatic move that risks complicating China's ties with two resource-rich African nations.

The move highlights the thorny terrain Beijing must negotiate as it steps out more on the diplomatic stage. The hostage drama comes after China had emerged as a chief negotiator in an oil-transit dispute between the two Sudans—an unfamiliar role for a country that has stuck to a policy of noninterference in other countries' affairs, yet one analysts ...