Has granted..over the past 15 years

Hi teachers,

Old news excerpts:

While the U.S. critized the vote that returned Omar al-Bashir to power for serious irregularies, China called the affair a "smooth and orderly.....success." This is not entirely surprising, given that the West considers Bashir the mastermind of the Darfur slaughter, while China sees him as a business partner who has granted Beijing billions in oil deals over the past 15 years.

The surprise is that China, a one-party state that does not hold elections for high officials, would even bother to send monitors to anyone else's vote.

1. What is this is not entirely surprising - the degree of surprising? Is it sarcastic way to bring the attention to "oil deals"?

2. When the past perfect "has granted" is used with "over the past 15 years", is it should be past tense?

3. Are the elections for high officials to rival for the positons or for the high officials to vote?

4. Does monitors mean observers?

Thank you.

Tinanam