Global General

FM to kickstart diplomatic visits with Africa tour

By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-01 09:57

Following the tradition of the past two decades, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will kick-start this year's official diplomatic visits with a tour to five African nations starting Jan 5, Jiang Yu, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said at a regular briefing yesterday.

Yang will visit Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Algeria, and Morocco at the invitation of his counterparts in those countries, she said.

The foreign minister is expected to wrap up his tour with a visit to Saudi Arabia. A stopover at Maldives is also on the cards sometime during the 9-day tour itinerary, Jiang said.

Since 1991, when Qian Qichen was foreign minister, it has been customary for China to start each year's diplomatic mission from African countries, said He Wenping, an expert in West Asian and African studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China and Africa share many common values and interests, He said. "We are true friends who have gone through hardships together."

Yang's Africa tour will be the 20th by a Chinese foreign minister right after the start of the new year.

In January 2009, Yang visited Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi and South Africa.

He Wenping also said the Maldives stopover will help explain China's position on climate change, a key threat to the survival of small island nations that face danger from rising sea levels due to global warming.

Some Western countries had criticized China for scuttling a wide-ranging agreement at the recently concluded Copenhagen climate change conference.

China needs to clarify its responsibilities and make the truth known to developing nations, a club which China was very much a part of, said He.

"China will try to seek better consensus with small island nations on climate change," she said.