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China-Africa relations
ChinaDiplomacy

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s 5-nation African tour a show of solidarity, strategic importance, analysts say

  • Qin Gang’s first stop was Ethiopia, which borrowed US$13.7 billion from China between 2000 and 2020 and has been seeking to restructure its debts
  • China will encourage more interactions, Qin tells African Union Commission chairman in Addis Ababa

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Foreign Minister Qin Gang and African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat meet at the union’s headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
Jevans Nyabiage
Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Ethiopia last week at the start of a five-nation tour of Africa was part of an effort to demonstrate Chinese support and solidarity and lend the government in Addis Ababa some legitimacy, observers said.
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Ethiopia’s relations with the West have deteriorated over the deadly conflict in its northern Tigray region. In 2021, Washington imposed sanctions on Ethiopian officials involved in the conflict, cut aid and denied Ethiopia special access to the US market under its African Growth and Opportunity Act of 2000.

China accused the US of meddling in Ethiopia’s internal affairs.

Qin’s other visits on the week-long African tour – to Angola, Gabon, Benin and Egypt – were also strategic for China’s diplomatic and economic ambitions, the observers said.

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Ethiopia has hosted many senior Chinese officials since late 2021, including then foreign minister Wang Yi in December 2021 as he made his way back from the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation Summit in West Africa and again the following January. Xue Bing, China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa, made several visits to the region last year after his appointment.
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Beijing has high stakes in Ethiopia. The country plays host to over 400 Chinese companies and firms engaged in manufacturing, energy and infrastructure projects worth a combined US$4 billion, according to Paul Nantulya, a China-Africa expert with the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University in Washington.

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