China’s Top Diplomat Begins Africa Tour to Secure Trade Routes, Resources

China’s top diplomat, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, began his annual New Year tour of Africa on Wednesday, underscoring Beijing’s push to secure strategic shipping routes, resource supply lines and export markets across eastern and southern Africa.

Wang’s trip, which runs until January 12, will take him to Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho. The annual January tour has become a fixture of Chinese diplomacy and signals Africa’s continued importance to President Xi Jinping’s foreign and economic policy agenda.

In Ethiopia — Africa’s fastest-growing large economy — Beijing is looking to deepen ties with a key partner under Xi’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative. The International Monetary Fund forecasts Ethiopia’s economy to grow by 7.2 percent this year, making it an attractive market for Chinese exports and investment, particularly as the country’s young population becomes increasingly affluent.

China, the world’s largest bilateral lender, is also recalibrating its Africa strategy as competition from the European Union intensifies and debt-stressed African nations increasingly seek equity investment rather than new loans.

“The real litmus test for 2026 isn’t just the arrival of Chinese investment, but the ‘Africanization’ of that investment,” said Judith Mwai, a policy analyst at Africa-focused consultancy Development Reimagined. “As Wang Yi visits hubs like Ethiopia and Tanzania, the conversation must move beyond just building roads to building factories.”

“For African leaders, this tour is an opportunity to demand that China’s ‘small yet beautiful’ projects address industrial gaps — turning raw materials into finished products on African soil rather than simply facilitating their export,” she added.

A key geopolitical stop on the tour is Somalia, where Wang’s visit will be the first by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s. The trip is expected to provide Mogadishu with a diplomatic boost after Israel last month became the first country to formally recognize the breakaway Republic of Somaliland.

China has reiterated its support for Somalia’s territorial integrity and is keen to reinforce its influence around the Gulf of Aden — the gateway to the Red Sea and a vital corridor for Chinese trade moving through the Suez Canal to Europe.

Further south, Tanzania plays a central role in Beijing’s strategy to secure access to Africa’s vast copper reserves. Chinese firms are refurbishing the Tazara Railway, which links Tanzania to Zambia, a major copper producer. The project is widely viewed as a counterweight to the US- and EU-backed Lobito Corridor connecting Zambia to Atlantic ports via Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s landmark visit to Zambia in November — the first by a Chinese premier in 28 years — highlighted the strategic importance Beijing places on the corridor.

Wang’s final stop in Lesotho is aimed at showcasing China’s bid to position itself as a champion of free trade. Last year, Beijing offered tariff-free access to its $19 trillion economy for the world’s poorest countries, fulfilling a pledge made by President Xi at the 2024 China–Africa Cooperation summit.

Lesotho, one of the world’s poorest nations with a GDP of just over $2 billion, was among the countries hardest hit by sweeping US tariffs imposed last year, facing duties of up to 50 percent on its exports to the United States.

On his New Year tour in 2025, Wang visited Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria — a pattern that continues to underline Africa’s strategic weight in China’s global ambitions.