On January 6, 2022 local time, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Omamo of Kenya jointly met the press in Mombasa.
Wang Yi said that China's diplomacy has a 32-year tradition, that is, the first visit at the beginning of the year must be in Africa, showing through practical actions that China cherishes the traditional friendship with Africa, insists that Africa is a priority in China's diplomacy, and is willing to do Good friend and good partner of Africa. Despite the challenges of the epidemic, we still arrived as scheduled, weathered storms, and never changed our original aspirations. This is the foundation of China-Africa friendship. This visit to Africa has three main goals:
The first is to join hands with Africa to completely defeat the epidemic. The world is facing a new round of impact from the Omi Keron strain. As a friend of Africa, China will never stand idly by. President Xi Jinping announced that another 1 billion doses of vaccines will be provided to Africa, and the implementation of the largest aid plan to Africa has already begun. A large number of vaccines are being transported across mountains and seas to every corner of Africa in need. Today, we are announcing that an additional 10 million vaccine doses will be delivered to Kenya. We will stand with our African brothers and sisters until the final victory.
The second is to speed up the implementation of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. More than a month ago, the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was successfully held. President Xi Jinping announced the "Nine Projects" of China-Africa practical cooperation. The series of bilateral cooperation documents signed by China and Kenya today are the early harvest of the "Nine Projects" in Kenya. We are willing to strengthen the connection with African partners, roll up our sleeves and work hard, so that the results of the conference can be fully implemented, benefit the African people, help Africa to accelerate post-pandemic recovery, and embark on the road of independent and sustainable development at an early date. The so-called "debt trap" in Africa is not a fact, but a hype with ulterior motives. It is a "discourse trap" created by external forces that do not want to see Africa's accelerated development. If there is any "trap" in Africa, it is the "poverty trap" and the "backward trap". China is willing to work with all friendly countries to help African countries accelerate post-pandemic recovery, eliminate poverty and backwardness, and catch up with the times as soon as possible to achieve common development and create a better future.
The third is to firmly safeguard the common interests of China and Africa. In the face of various powers, bullying and unilateral actions, China and Africa have the responsibility to jointly practice genuine multilateralism and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice. China is willing to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Africa in international and regional affairs, safeguard the international system with the United Nations at the core and the basic norms of international relations, safeguard the legitimate interests of developing countries, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.
