Qin Gang, New Chinese Foreign Minister, Makes Debut in Africa

Tour of Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, etc. until the 16th

Qin Gang, the new Chinese Foreign Minister. Photo by AFP

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Qin Gang, the new Chinese Foreign Minister, will make his debut as the head of the Foreign Ministry in Africa.

On the 9th, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, announced at a regular briefing that Minister Qin will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, Egypt, and the African Union (AU) headquarters from today until the 16th.

Spokesperson Wang stated, "For 33 consecutive years, the Chinese Foreign Minister's first foreign visit of the new year has been to Africa," adding that Minister Qin is scheduled to meet with foreign ministers of the visited countries to exchange views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues.

The tradition of the Chinese Foreign Minister making Africa the first destination of the new year has continued for 33 years since 1991, becoming an established custom.

Previously, the former Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is also a member of the Communist Party Central Political Bureau and Director of the Communist Party Foreign Affairs Office, began his first foreign visit last January with a tour of three African countries: Eritrea, Kenya, and Comoros.

Minister Qin, originally from Tianjin, began working at the Foreign Ministry in 1988 and served twice as the ministry's spokesperson in 2005 and 2011 for a total of eight years. During this time, he took a hardline stance on contentious issues such as the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests and Tibetan human rights, earning a reputation as a representative figure of the "Wolf Warrior" diplomacy.