China’s top lawmaker vows to share governance notes with Djibouti, deepen belt and road ties

Pledge from NPC Standing Committee chair Zhao Leji comes during meeting with Djiboutian counterpart marking 45 years of diplomatic ties

Dileita Mohamed Dileita also meets Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, who pledges support on promoting 2035 Vision for China-Africa Cooperation

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Zhao Leji, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, with Dileita Mohamed Dileita, speaker of the National Assembly of Djibouti, in Beijing on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 9:00pm, 24 Jan 2024

China is willing to exchange notes with Djibouti on state governance and deepen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the country’s top legislator has said.

Zhao Leji, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislative body, made the comments as he met Djiboutian counterpart Dileita Mohamed Dileita in Beijing on Tuesday to mark 45 years of diplomatic ties.

“[China is] ready to deepen cooperation [with Djibouti] under the Belt and Road Initiative, strengthen strategic alignment, and expand cooperation on ports, free trade parks, investment and infrastructure construction,” Zhao was quoted as saying by Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Djibouti, a tiny Horn of Africa nation facing the oil-rich Arabian peninsula, is strategically significant because of its maritime location. It sits at the intersection of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea – the gateway to the Suez Canal through which 10 per cent of the world’s oil exports and 20 per cent of all commercial goods travel.

It is also one of more than 50 African countries to have signed up for Beijing’s trillion-dollar belt and road infrastructure programme, and is an important node in the plan’s maritime section seeking to connect China to the rest of Asia, and Africa and Europe.

“China is willing to work with Djibouti to strengthen exchanges of experience in state governance on the basis of mutual respect for each other’s choice of development path and institutional model,” Zhao told Dileita, speaker of the National Assembly of Djibouti.

He also pledged support for Djibouti “in safeguarding its national sovereignty, security and stability [and] in independently exploring a development path suited to its national conditions”, according to Xinhua.

Djibouti is home to several foreign military bases, including China’s only overseas military base – set up in 2017.

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