To deepen the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership, Foreign Minister Qin Gang will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, Egypt, the African Union Headquarters, and the League of Arab States Headquarters upon invitation from January 9 to 16, 2023.
This is the 33rd consecutive year that Africa has been the destination of Chinese foreign ministers’ annual first overseas visit.
During a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told the reporters that this trip to Africa is Fr Qin’s first visit as the Chinese foreign minister.
The spokesperson added that it has been a 33-year fine tradition that the country's foreign ministers make their first overseas trips to Africa at the beginning of a new year. This shows how much Beijing values its traditional friendship with the continent and the growth of China-Africa relations.
China-Africa relations have been strong, and the two sides have ushered in a new era of building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future, according to Wang.
He highlighted that during the visit, the new foreign minister will have meetings and talks with the leaders and foreign ministers of the five African countries and the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson respectively, and they will have exchanges on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest.
He explained that Beijing will follow the principles of sincerity, real results, camaraderie, good faith, adherence to the common good and common interests, carry forward the spirit of friendship and cooperation between China and Africa and work with Africa to better implement the results of the Eighth Congress. The Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will continue to promote the growth of the comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership between China and Africa.
Qin will also meet with the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States. Not long ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the first summit of China and the Arab countries, which is the largest and highest level diplomatic event between China and the Arab world since the founding of the People's Republic of China, leading to Sino-Arab relations. A new era of deepening comprehensive development.
According to the spokesperson, his country is prepared to work with the Arab world to build a China-Arab community with a shared future in the new era, uphold the common interest of developing countries and safeguard world and regional peace and stability.
Concerning COVID-19 updates, the foreign ministry spokesperson said the open-access data of GISAID has shown that over the past three years since COVID began, almost all COVID variants and their sub-variants have spread widely in the US, making it one of the countries with more COVID variants than others.
He added that this new Omicron sub-variant, currently known as XBB.1.5, spreads the fastest in the US and now accounts for more than 40% of new COVID infections in the US.
The US needs to share its domestic COVID information and data with the WHO and the international community in a timely, open and transparent manner, and take concrete and effective measures to stop the virus from further spreading, according to Wang.
He mentioned that since Beijing announced the decision to manage COVID-19 with measures against Class-B infectious diseases and adopted provisional measures on cross-border travel, many countries have expressed their welcome, but a few countries have also announced entry restriction measures targeting travellers from China.
Wang pointed out that China has been in communication with relevant countries with the utmost sincerity in this regard based on facts and has elaborated on China’s science-based and reasonable COVID measures refinement and China’s current COVID situation.
According to him, regrettably, a handful of countries, in disregard of science and facts, have insisted on taking discriminatory entry restriction measures targeting China, adding that his country firmly rejects this and will take reciprocal measures.
He called once again on all parties to make sure that their COVID response measures are fact-based, science-based, and proportionate and avoid politicizing COVID.
Wang mentioned that China stands ready to maintain close communication with all parties, adapt COVID measures to the changing epidemic situation, make joint efforts to facilitate cross-border people-to-people exchanges, and contribute to global solidarity against COVID and to world economic recovery.
Chinese authorities are sparing no effort to prevent severe cases and care for people’s health by improving the allocation of medical resources, increasing the production capacity and supply of drugs, and boosting vaccination, according to the spokesperson.
He said China’s COVID situation is overall improving. Some provinces and cities have gone through the infection peak, where life and work are coming back to normal at a faster pace.
He added that China has all along shared information on its monitoring of the mutation of the virus and infected groups with the international community in a timely, open and transparent manner. We have carried out over 60 technical exchanges with the WHO over the past three years, including four in the last month alone.
Wang hoped that all sides would follow the science, jointly ensure safe and unhindered cross-border travel, and contribute strongly to international solidarity against COVID and world economic recovery.
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