Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang is in Ethiopia, the first stop of his foreign trip to five African countries.
Qin is also expected to visit Gabon, Angola, Benin, and Egypt.
In countries across Africa, including Malawi, China has provided a lot of support to industrial development and infrastructure building.
In recent years, China has also provided food assistance to Ethiopia and supported the peace process, which is essential for the Horn of Africa.
Speaking to Malawi24, Shen Shiwei, a scholar specialising in China-Africa relations, said Qin Gang’s visit continues 33 years of tradition that Africa has been the destination of Chinese foreign ministers’ annual first overseas visit.
“It tells how much importance China attaches to its relationship with African countries,” said Shen, a CGTN Journalist and a non-resident research fellow of the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University.
He added: “It’s expected that Qin’s visit will share China’s vision on how to boost China-Africa ties with African countries’ leaders and officials, and Qin will better understand African countries’ needs in terms of development.”
China has been an integral partner of Malawi development for close to 2 decades now. Several students from Malawi have received Chinese government scholarships to study in China.
Beijing has also assisted Malawi with billions in Malawi kwacha of humanitarian aid through ChinaAid. China is also supporting Malawi’s several infrastructure development which nearly dwarfs aid from western countries Malawi.
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