APA-Asmara (Eritrea) Following extensive talks between President Isaias Afwerki and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, some see the Eritrean leader’s trip to Beijing as part of a new general scramble for trade favours from the world’s second largest economy by a number of countries in East Africa.
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia are touted as China’s foremost friends in East Africa, an exclusive club Eritrea looks set to break into with a string of diplomatic manoeuvres the sole aims of which is to establish closer trade ties.
Eritrean exports to China went up at an annualised rate of 42.7 percent, from $33.7k in 1995 to $352M in 2021.
Trade traffic from China to Eritrea during the same period had risen at an annualised rate of 14.3 percent from $2.15m to $69.9m.
In March 2023, China exported $5.45m while Eritrea imported $40.5m from the Asian country, resulting in a negative trade balance of $35.1m, according to data from the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a leading data analysis platform of international trade.
China imports mainly zinc ore and copper ore from Eritrea while the African country receives telephones, rubber tires, vehicles and accessories, OEC data reveals.
Officially Afwerki’s presence in China was to rekindle strategic bilateral ties with his country which is largely ostracised earning a label as Africa’s North Korea, in reference to the near reclusive nature of its leader.
With bigger Chinese investments in the rest of East Africa literally yielding concrete results in the form of roads, bridges and railways from Djibouti to Tanzania, Asmara has also joined the scramble keen not to miss out on Beijing’s largesse.
While expressing appreciation for China’s role in his country’s struggle for independence, President Afwerki made it clear that Eritrea sets its sights beyond mere diplomacy.
This appears so important to the Eritrean government that Afwerki is not leaving it to his diplomats, hence his well planned trip to Beijing to use diplomacy as a tool to trigger trade relations with China that would benefit his country in tangible forms.
But Chinese ‘benevolence’ to Eritrea dates back several decades.
In 2001, Beijing wrote off the country’s debt, funded a number of high-profile projects including Asmara’s most modern hospital.
The country’s improved telecommunicaiton infrastructure was thanks to a 2006 Chinese loan of $23 million.
Currently Eritrea benefits from the removal of trae tariffs on its exports to China while the Asian giant has extensive technical assistance to the East African country’s health sector.
In exchange for this Eritrea has been providing sound support for China in the international arena, the latest being its backing at the United Nations of Beijing’s Hong Kong National Security Law in June 2020.
This favour also requires issuing the right soundtracks for China elsewhere in the diplomatic fold.
True to this reciprocal spirit, President Isaias did not disappoint while in Beijing, applauding what he called the historical contributions that China has made to humanity in the past 75 years, instilling high hopes and aspirations in developing countries and promoting global stability and development.
He said notwithstanding the challenges, the world is increasingly extricating itself from the domination of the Western powers and embarking on a new international order whose hallmarks are the prevalence of justice and mutual respect between peoples and nations.
His host President Xi Jinping stressed that China views its bilateral ties with Eritrea from a strategic and long term perspective and stressed that Beijing is a reliable friend of Asmara.
President Xi further noted that against the backdrop of the current international situation, characterised by instability and uncertainty, a sound China-Eritrea relations not only serve the common and long term interests of both countries, but is also of great significance to regional peace and international fairness and justice.
President Xi also applauded Eritrea’s firm adherence to an independent foreign policy.
The Chinese leader also expressed readiness by enterprises in his country to invest and do business in various sectors including construction, telecommunications, agriculture, mining and fisheries in Eritrea.
President Isaias also met and held talks with Prime Minister Li Qiang at a meeting which coincided with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the formal diplomatic relations between China and Eritrea.
Prime Minister Qiang stated that bilateral ties between the two countries have transcended normative diplomatic ties to constitute strategic relationship and tangible cooperation.
With the two sides committing themselves to a broad range of investment and development cooperation, President Afwerki will come away highly expectant that Chinese involvement in manufacturing, coastal development, blue economy, digital economy, mining, education, health and human capacity development may see his trade diplomacy with Beijing bearing some fruit unprecedented in its history.
WN/as/APA