Foreign policy shift helping to cement Beijing's new role on world stage
Premier Wen Jiabao's forthcoming visit to Africa is expected to secure trade deals and re-orient China's foreign policy as it taps into Africa's political and economic resources, analysts said yesterday.
While the official line for this trip is one of deepening friendship with Africa, analysts said Mr Wen's eight-day visit was also a sign of China's willingness to take on more responsibilities as a global stakeholder.
Mr Wen will set off on Saturday for Egypt, then to Ghana, the Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. His trip comes less than two months after President Hu Jintao visited three African nations, and five months before a high-level China-Africa co-operation forum, to be held in China.
Chietigi Bajpaee, a research associate with the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the recent focus on Africa showed that China was shifting from its US-centric foreign policy of the 1990s to one centred on the developing world as the country gained more self-confidence with economic advancement.
'That's also because China is being frustrated with the US taking a more hawkish approach,' he said. 'It's reaffirming its relations with developing countries, and Africa takes a lead in that field.'
It was also a response to US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick's call in September for China to be a more responsible stakeholder in the international system, Mr Bajpaee said.
