Chinese FM to visit Africa, attend Syria donors conference in London

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will start on Saturday an African tour that will take him to Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique and Namibia, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a news briefing Thursday in Beijing.

He will then attend a Syria donors conference in London next Thursday.

"Choosing Africa as the destination for foreign minister's first trip each year is a fine tradition of China's diplomacy. It shows the importance attached to China-Africa ties," Hua said.

The choice of the four countries, each with different characteristics, demonstrates China's diplomatic principle of treating all countries on an equal basis, Hua said.

Wang will meet leaders and foreign ministers to discuss how to implement the outcome of Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and to align priority cooperation areas and projects.

During the summit in early December, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed 10 major cooperation plans for the next three years in such areas as industrialization, agriculture, infrastructure, green development, and poverty reduction, Xinhua reported.

"We hope cooperation between China and Africa will bear fruit and benefit the people at an early date, promote win-win outcomes and joint development between China and Africa," Hua said.

As for the Syria donors conference, also known as the International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, Hua said that the minister will elaborate on China's proposals for Syria's humanitarian situation and political settlement process, as well as measures to alleviate the suffering of Syria's homeless and refugees.

China hopes this conference will bring attention from all sides to the refugee issue and leverage more international efforts on the assistance and settlement of refugees, she said.

She added that China supports a UN meditating role for a political settlement in Syrian, which will help address the root cause of the refugee issue.

Source: MENA