China’s Horn of Africa envoy advances Beijing’s push for peace in strategic and complex region

Beijing’s newly created diplomatic post is set where civil wars, Islamist insurgencies and military coups have threatened investments

China, which has its first overseas military base in Djibouti, has accused the US of meddling in the internal affairs of Horn of Africa nations

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People wait for water at one of the 500 camps for internally displaced persons in Baidoa, Somalia. China has appointed an envoy to the Horn of Africa to pursue “peace and security and embrace development and prosperity” for nations there. Photo: AFP

Published: 6:00am, 24 Feb 2022

China’s new envoy for Horn of Africa affairs will help Beijing take a bigger role in the African region’s politics, economy and security to further peace in a part of the world where Beijing has vast investment interests and its first overseas military base.

On Tuesday, China announced the appointment of senior diplomat Xue Bing as its new special envoy for the Horn of Africa, as promised by Foreign Minister Wang Yi while on a trip to Kenya last month.

Xue is a veteran diplomat who had served as the ambassador to Papua New Guinea and in various countries in Africa, the Americas and Oceania, according to ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

Xue Bing is China’s new special envoy for the Horn of Africa, a region that is currently troubled by conflict including in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Photo: Handout

The special envoy would establish “work relationships with colleagues” to advance peace and development in the Horn of Africa, with China ready to play a constructive role in this regard, the ministry said on Tuesday.

During his visit to Africa in January, the Chinese foreign minister said China would “support regional countries in achieving lasting peace and security and embrace development and prosperity”, and that China would convene a conference on peace in the Horn of Africa. It is presumed it will address conflicts and instability in Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia where Beijing fears its vast investments, made mostly under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, are threatened.

The Horn of Africa has complex historical, ideological, political, social, economic, humanitarian and environmental factors that have created tensions within and between states, according to Aaron Tesfaye, a professor of political science at William Paterson University, Wayne, New Jersey.

“The Chinese envoy, in attempting to mediate conflict in Ethiopia, will soon understand the solution will require several states and non-state actors in the region,” Tesfaye said.