Friendship with Africa ‘solid as rock’

China and Africa agreed their friendship will remain strong and defy any attempt to drive a wedge between the two.

The pledge was made as State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat over the phone on Monday.

Wang said that China treats its own citizens and foreigners equally, and opposes any kind of differential treatment targeting certain groups. He said China and African countries need more than ever to trust each other, support each other and work in unity to overcome the challenges of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

China has always had a friendly policy toward Africa, Wang said, adding that their friendship, which is “as solid as rock”, will never be affected by individual incidents, let alone be disrupted by certain forces’ attempts to sow discord between them.

China cherishes the support it received from the African Union and African countries during the hard times of the COVID-19 outbreak, he said.

With the virus spreading in Africa, President Xi Jinping has spoken with leaders of countries such as South Africa and Egypt to express his condolences and support, Wang said. Xi also has called on the international community to enhance assistance to Africa, Wang said.

China has provided many urgently needed materials to the African Union and African countries, Wang added.

Faki said China and Africa are friends and comrades-in-arms, and nothing will undermine their friendship. Expressing his appreciation for emergency assistance China has provided to Africa, Faki said it is a mission of both to uphold their partnership.

China-Africa friendship is “indestructible”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a daily news conference on Tuesday. The United States is attempting in vain and being “extremely immoral” to play China and Africa against each other, he said.

Zhao made the remark after Tibor Nagy, assistant secretary for the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, accused China of “attacks against Africans living and working in China”.

Meeting with diplomats from over 20 African nations on Monday, Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong also called for strengthened unity between China and Africa.

China has made important progress against the outbreak, Chen said, adding that the country, especially Guangdong province, is under mounting pressure from imported cases. Only through strengthened preventive efforts can a rebound be headed off, and China is enhancing the efforts to be responsible for not only Chinese but also foreigners in Guangdong, including Africans, Chen said.

China attaches great importance to concerns of some African diplomats over disease control measures taken by the provincial capital Guangzhou, and authorities are improving such measures, Chen said.