China’s Foreign minister comes to Nairobi with message against the West

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will tour Nairobi next week with a subtle message against the West, even though his trip will be a routine annual tour that Beijing has held since 1991.

Mr Wang, also China’s State Councillor, is due to visit Eritrea, Kenya and the Comoros Islands, his chosen three countries. This is 32nd time that Beijing will be sending its top diplomat on a tour of Africa at the start of any new year.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian told the media on Thursday the top diplomat will be following up on outcomes from the recent Focus on China-Africa Cooperation hosted in Senegal in November 2021.

At the meeting, President Xi Jinping of China had promised 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Africa in 2022, a market for more African goods, a digital revolution as well as green investment programme for Africa over the next three years, including debt forgiveness for the poorest African countries.

Ring-fencing ties

Yet the trip, Mr Zhao said, was also about ring-fencing ties with Africa in a way that protects interference from the West and places Africa and China on a path to global influence.

“This [trip] fully demonstrates the high importance China attaches to China-Africa relations, the growing profound friendship between China and Africa, and China’s firm support for Africa’s seeking strength through unity, development and revitalization,” Mr Zhao said in virtual comments to the media on Thursday.

“As fellow developing countries, China and African countries are faced with the common task of safeguarding sovereignty, opposing hegemony and achieving development. We are not only comrades-in-arms in the fight against hegemonism, but also partners in the pursuit of development and revitalisation, and important forces defending international fairness and justice.”

China had by the end of December supplied more than 55 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines in Africa and the delivery of the 1 billion vaccines could make it the biggest bilateral donor of doses in Africa, just rivalling the United States.

But China’s influence in Africa has recently come under criticism from the US government, which argues the relationship is unbalanced and favours the US, especially when it comes to financial assistance.

Covid-19 fight

Beijing says Wang Yi’s trip will cement a concerted effort against Covid-19, as well as review the decision points of FOCAC (Forum on China–Africa Cooperation). The conference, which was this time at ministerial level rather than the traditional triennial summit, saw Beijing pledge at least USD40 billion worth of financial support to Africa, just lower than the USD60 billion pledged in the past two summits.

But officials argued the Dakar Action Plan, the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, the Sino-African Declaration on Climate Change and the Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC — the four key documents out of the conference — actually mean the area of focus is wider than before, and could involve more money in reality.

Mr Zhao told the media the trip will “dovetail new measures for practical cooperation between China and Africa, and support African countries in defeating Covid-19 and achieving economic recovery at an early date”.

Mr Wang had been in Kenya three times before, two of which were part of his annual New Year trips, while the other was with Prime Minister Li Keqiang. He will visit Nairobi amid a burden on Kenya to clear its debt owed to Beijing for infrastructure upgrades.