<figure id="attachment_3136257" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3136257" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3136257" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/350ef3cf-wang-yi-epa-160825.webp" alt="Wang Yi EPA 160825" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3136257" class="wp-caption-text">Wang Yi’s visits follow a long-standing Chinese diplomatic convention of making Africa the foreign minister’s first overseas trip of the year. (EPA Images pic)</figcaption></figure>
BEIJING: China&#8217;s top diplomat kicks off a New Year trip to Africa on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said, seeking to boost trade on a four-country circuit that includes several recent political hotspots.
Foreign minister Wang Yi&#8217;s tour of the continent&#8217;s east and south will bring him to Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho, concluding on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.
The visits are in keeping with Chinese diplomatic convention of recent decades, whereby the foreign minister&#8217;s first overseas trip of the year is to Africa.
The current tour &#8220;aims to deepen political mutual trust with all parties&#8230; (and) strengthen exchanges and mutual learning&#8221;, foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said Wednesday at a regular news conference.
China is Africa&#8217;s top business partner, with trade reaching US$296 billion in 2024, according to Chinese state media.
Beijing has sent hundreds of thousands of workers and engineers to the continent and gained strategic access to its vast mineral riches including copper, gold and lithium.
Wang&#8217;s visit to Somalia underlines China&#8217;s support for the impoverished Horn of Africa country, which condemned a trip this week by Israel&#8217;s foreign minister to the breakaway region of Somaliland.
Beijing&#8217;s foreign ministry has said it is &#8220;firmly against&#8221; the Dec 26 recognition of Somaliland by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Wang will then visit Tanzania, where more than 1,000 were reportedly killed by security forces during and after an election in October in which all the main opposition candidates were disqualified.
Lesotho, the final country on Wang&#8217;s tour, saw protests last year in response to massive job losses caused by US-imposed tariffs on exports.

MatchPoint Times

China’s foreign minister to visit 4 African nations on annual tour

Foreign minister Wang Yi’s tour of the continent’s east and south will bring him to Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho.

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