China’s top diplomat began his annual New Year tour of Africa on Wednesday, focusing on strategic trade access across eastern and southern Africa as Beijing seeks to secure key shipping routes and resource supply lines.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Ethiopia, Africa's fastest‑growing large economy; Somalia, a Horn of Africa state offering access to key global shipping lanes; Tanzania, a logistics hub linking minerals‑rich central Africa to the Indian Ocean; and Lesotho, a small southern African economy squeezed by US trade measures, on this year’s trip, which runs until January 12.

Beijing aims to highlight countries it views as model partners of President Xi Jinping's flagship 'Belt and Road' infrastructure programme and to expand export markets, particularly in young, increasingly affluent economies such as Ethiopia, where the IMF forecasts growth of 7.2% this year.

China, the world's largest bilateral lender, faces growing competition from the European Union to finance African infrastructure, as countries hit by pandemic‑era debt strains now seek investment over loans.

"Foreign Minister Wang's visit aims to deepen political and mutual trust," a ministry spokesperson said, adding that the trip would "strengthen exchanges and mutual understanding between the two great civilisations of China and Africa."

Wang opened 2025 by visiting Namibia, the Republic of Congo, Chad and Nigeria.

FIRST DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO SOMALIA IN DECADES

His upcoming visit to Somalia will be the first by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s and is expected to provide Mogadishu with a diplomatic boost after Israel became the first country to formally recognise the breakaway Republic of Somaliland, a northern region that declared itself independent in 1991. 

Beijing, which reiterated its support for Somalia after the Israeli announcement in December, is keen to reinforce its influence around the Gulf of Aden, the entrance to the Red Sea and a vital corridor for Chinese trade transiting the Suez Canal to Europe.

Further south, Tanzania is central to Beijing's plan to secure access to Africa's vast copper deposits. Chinese firms are refurbishing the Tazara Railway that runs through the country into Zambia. Li Qiang made a landmark trip to Zambia in November, the first visit by a Chinese premier in 28 years.

The railway is widely seen as a counterweight to the US and European Union-backed Lobito Corridor, which connects Zambia to Atlantic ports via Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

CHINA CHAMPIONS FREE TRADE IN LESOTHO

By visiting the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, Wang aims to highlight Beijing's push to position itself as a champion of free trade. Last year, China offered tariff-free market access to its $19-trillion economy for the world's poorest nations, fulfilling a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2024 China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing.

Lesotho, one of the world's poorest nations with a gross domestic product of just over $2-billion, was among the countries hardest hit by US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs last year, facing duties of up to 50% on its exports to the United States.