Chinese State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week embarked on a 5-day visit of Africa. Covering Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Senegal, as well as an official visit of the African Union headquarters. The tour follows decades of tradition by China’s top diplomats in making Africa the first stop in their annual foreign relations calendar.
Coming only months after the 2018 Beijing Summit of FOCAC, Wang Yi’s tour is expected to advance China and Africa’s strategic cooperation and development as well as kick start implementation of agreements reached at the 2018 FOCAC summit.
But amidst increasing challenges to the global multilateral order and rising barriers to an open global economy, experts are now taking note the significance of Wang Yi’s 2019 tour to Africa?
According to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the January trip is expected to advance the strategic and development interests of China & African countries, with the implementation phase of the decisions of the 2018 Beijing summit of FOCAC set to kick off and be undertaken over the next 3 years. State councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit is also seen as a reiteration of China’s commitment to the consensus of promoting and protecting multilateralism, boosting international trade and green development and industrialisation among other elements of FOCAC 2018’s 8 initiatives.
