China’s FM on Africa charm offensive tour calls for Gaza ceasefire

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has kicked off his inaugural trip of 2024 that takes him to four countries around Africa, focusing on diplomacy, economics, and security issues on the continent.
During his first stop in Cairo, the top Chinese diplomat called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the start of the implementation of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In a press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, Wang Yi said that “it is necessary to insist on the establishment of an independent, fully sovereign state of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.” Wang additionally discussed the conflict with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, with both sides reportedly agreeing a ceasefire “should be achieved as soon as possible to prevent the conflict from further spilling over.”The two leaders also discussed the need to immediately end the fighting in Gaza to prevent spillover to new fronts around the volatile region.
As a recent analysis in The Diplomat pointed out, in keeping with a tradition spanning over three decades, for Wang, a veteran diplomat, it’s his annual overseas trip of 2024 — and his overall 11th trip since 2013 — to the African continent. Wang’s four destinations — Egypt, along with the three francophone countries of Tunisia, Togo, and Cote d’Ivoire — reflect China’s continuing interest in North Africa and West Africa, the analysis says. Wang’s agenda for this trip no doubt also includes reviews of the implementation of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and coordination for the coming 9th Ministerial Conference of FOCAC to be held later this year in Beijing.