Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) vowed on Friday that his country would “always be a champion” of African causes as he began a two-day trip to Senegal.
He hailed the improved relationship between Beijing and Africa after touching down in Dakar on the final leg of a four-nation tour aimed at boosting trade links between Beijing and its partners on the continent.
“The friendship between China and Africa will continue to deepen over time ... in an atmosphere of pragmatism and openness,” Wang told a joint news conference with his Senegalese counterpart, Mankeur Ndiaye.
“In its relations with African nations, China will promote justice. China will always be a champion of African nations and defend their interests,” he added.
China has increasingly eyed Africa to fuel and fund its burgeoning economy, which last year is estimated to have grown 7.6 percent, according to a Chinese government report.
Chinese senior ministers and presidents Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and Xi Jinping (習近平) have personally courted African nations, with deals signed in sectors from oil and gas to agriculture and infrastructure.
Beijing is often accused of focusing on the potential profits from Africa’s vast mineral wealth at the expense of human rights.
In recent years, Beijing has sought to win hearts and minds with huge Chinese-funded infrastructure projects, including Senegal’s national theater, built in 2011.
Other China-backed projects in the pipeline in Senegal include a national arena and a 150km highway connecting Dakar to the central city of Touba.
Trade between Senegal and China increased by 20 percent in the 12 months to August last year, according to the Chinese embassy in Dakar, to US$633 million.
“Despite the long distance between us, the quality of our relations allows our two countries to overcome the geography,” Ndiaye said.
Wang, whose tour has also taken in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Ghana, held talks with Senegalese President Macky Sall and is due to tour Chinese-funded development projects and meet Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Toure before leaving yesterday.
He told reporters Sall would be visiting Beijing in next month.
In Ghana, Wang had described this year as a year of “ever-deepening reform” in China, with the target of “national rejuvenation.”
Chinese trade with Africa stood at US$200 billion in 2012, prompting talk of the continent as a potential battleground for a proxy economic Cold War with Western powers.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number