{"id":66101,"date":"2026-01-07T21:16:03","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:16:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa"},"modified":"2026-01-07T21:43:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:43:54","slug":"chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","title":{"rendered":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong> <\/span>China\u2019s top diplomat began his annual New Year tour of Africa on Wednesday, with a focus on the strategically important east, as the world\u2019s No.2 economy seeks to reinforce its influence on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho on this year\u2019s trip.<\/p>\n<p>Wang\u2019s visit to Somalia \u2013 the first by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s \u2013 is likely to provide Mogadishu with a diplomatic boost after Israel last month became the first country to formally recognise the breakaway Republic of Somaliland, a northern region that declared itself independent in 1991.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing, which reiterated its support for Somalia after the Israeli announcement, is keen to buttress its influence around the Gulf of Aden, the entry to the Red Sea and a crucial corridor for Chinese trade heading through the Suez Canal to European markets.<\/p>\n<p>Further south, Tanzania is central to Beijing\u2019s push to secure access to Africa\u2019s vast copper deposits. Chinese firms are refurbishing the Tazara Railway that runs through the country into Zambia. Li Qiang made a landmark trip to Zambia in November, the first visit by a Chinese premier in 28 years.<\/p>\n<p>The railway is widely seen as a counterweight to the U.S. and European Union-backed Lobito Corridor, which connects Zambia to Atlantic ports via Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.<\/p>\n<p>By visiting the southern African kingdom of Lesotho, Wang aims to highlight Beijing\u2019s push to position itself as a champion of free trade. Last year, China offered tariff-free market access to its $19 trillion economy for the world\u2019s poorest nations, fulfilling a pledge by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 2024 China-Africa Cooperation summit in Beijing.<\/p>\n<p>Lesotho, one of the world\u2019s poorest nations with a gross domestic product of just over $2 billion, was among the countries hardest hit by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping tariffs last year, facing duties of up to 50% on its exports to the United States.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Lesotho<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his annual New Year tour of Africa on Wednesday, with a focus on the strategically important east, as the world\u2019s No.2 economy seeks to reinforce its influence on the continent. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Lesotho on this year\u2019s trip. Wang\u2019s visit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":66100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-66101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"516\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\"},\"wordCount\":355,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\",\"name\":\"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":516,\"caption\":\"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa - Lesotho","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":516,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa","datePublished":"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa"},"wordCount":355,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg","keywords":["Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa","name":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-07T21:16:03+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-07T21:43:54+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press - Lesotho. China\u2019s top diplomat began his ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2026\/01\/sm_1767821845.47979.jpg","width":768,"height":516,"caption":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/chinas-top-diplomat-heads-to-key-strategic-points-in-africa#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"China\u2019s top diplomat heads to key strategic points in Africa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}