Image source,Xinhua News Agency
Eritrean President Isaias met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
What kind of country is Eritrea in Africa? Why did the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arouse international attention?
At the beginning of the new year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi embarked on a trip to East Africa. The first destination was Eritrea. This is Wang Yi’s second visit to Africa in more than one month after attending the Dakar Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at the end of November 2021.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on the 6th that the Chinese Foreign Minister’s first visit to Africa at the beginning of the year was a “fine tradition” of China’s diplomacy for 32 years.
The spokesperson also said that Wang Yi’s choice of Eritrea for his first stop “fully reflects China’s emphasis on China-Ecuador relations and the traditional friendship between the two countries.”
One point of international media attention is that Wang Yishi’s trip was launched after US Secretary of State Brinken visited Africa in November 2021, and Brinken’s visit to Africa at that time was part of the purpose of countering China’s growing influence on the African continent.
China has replaced the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner for many years.
In the past ten years, China has had huge interests in East Africa and has carried out large-scale infrastructure projects along the Belt and Road such as high-speed railways, highways, and power plants.
And China’s interests in the Horn of Africa are increasing day by day, and it has begun to realize the importance of security and stability in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2017, China established its first overseas military base in Djibouti, a country south of Eritrea.
Horn of Africa
Eritrea is located in the northernmost part of East Africa and the Horn of Africa. It borders Ethiopia to the south, Sudan to the west, Djibouti to the southeast, and Yemen and Saudi Arabia to the northeast across the Red Sea. It is the gateway to the Red Sea in and out of the Indian Ocean. Its geographic location is very important.
The country was colonized by the Turkish Empire and Italy in history. After World War II, the United Kingdom took charge of it. In 1950, the United Nations resolution made it to form a federation with Ethiopia.
In 1991, the Eritrean People’s Front, which advocated the independence of Eritrea, and the Ethiopian People’s Front joined forces to overthrow the Ethiopian Mengistu regime, and then reached an agreement with the Ethiopian Transitional Government to decide on Eritre’s independence through a referendum.
Eritrea held a referendum in 1993, with an absolute majority in favor, and Eritrea officially declared its independence. Subsequently, Eritrea established diplomatic relations with more than 100 countries, and became a member or observer of international organizations such as the United Nations, the African Union, the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa, and the Arab League.
A two-year war broke out between Eritrea and neighboring Ethiopia in 1998 due to border disputes, resulting in 100,000 deaths. In the end, the two countries signed a peace agreement in 2018 under the mediation of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and normalized relations.
At present, Eritrea is still one of the least developed countries in the world. It became the last country in Africa to have Internet access in 2000.
Eritrea is backward in infrastructure construction, but it is rich in natural resources.
Image source,Getty Images
Eritrea is still one of the most underdeveloped regions in the world, and the wreckage of the 1990s war can still be seen today.
“North Korea in Africa”
Eritrea once had close relations with the United States after independence. However, in 2002 the two sides had serious differences over the United States‘ desire to establish a military base in Eritrea.
After that, Eritrea was criticized and sanctioned by the United States and Western society on a series of issues such as democracy, human rights, and anti-terrorism. The United States has always accused Eritrea of supporting terrorist activities in Somalia.
Eritrea has a one-party dictatorship and is called the “North Korea of Africa” by international critics.
Because of the close relationship between Eritrea and Ethiopia after 2018, Eritrea also intervened in the civil war in Tigray, northern Ethiopia. The United States imposed sanctions on the Eritrean military, some entities and individuals at the end of 2021.
The EU also imposed sanctions on individuals and entities from Eritrea last year under the “EU Global Human Rights Sanctions System”.
Relations with China
Dr. Dan He of the Institute of African Studies of Zhejiang Normal University talked about the criticism of China’s “colonialism” in Africa in the West.
When Eritrea became independent in 1993, China established diplomatic relations with the country, and the relations between the two countries gradually developed. Especially in recent years, economic relations have developed rapidly.
Like Ethiopia, Eritrea was greatly influenced by China before and after its independence.
Isaias, who has served as President of Eritrea since 1997, has studied in China. In November 2021, Eritrea joined China’s One Belt One Road strategy and became China’s important strategic partner in Africa. The two countries announced that they would launch cooperation in various fields such as infrastructure, mineral resources, agriculture, and human resources.
Eritrea’s diplomatic principles are basically the same as those of China: its foreign policy declares peace, non-alignment, and good-neighborliness, and it advocates the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. When Wang Yi’s visit to Eritrea was met by Eritrean President Isaias and the foreign minister Osman, they both emphasized opposing hegemonism and opposing interference by major powers.
International media have noticed that Wang Yi said during his visit to Eritrea that Beijing opposes hegemonic interference in the internal affairs of other countries under the pretext of democracy and human rights. The analysis said that China used this to criticize the unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States on Eritrea without naming names as an interference in Eritrea’s internal affairs.
Image source,AFP
In 2016, the first electrified railway in Africa built by China to connect the capitals of Ethiopia and Djibouti in southern Eritrea was opened to traffic, and it was put into commercial operation in 2018.
China’s new special envoy for the Horn of Africa
The Chinese Foreign Minister has always had the tradition of first visiting Africa at the beginning of the new year. Wang Yi designated Eritrea as his first country to visit at the beginning of 2022, and then visited Kenya and Comoros.
During his visit to Kenya, Wang Yi said that the Horn of Africa has a unique geographical location and great development potential. However, in recent years, hot spots have continued to heat up, regional conflicts have continued, and conflicts and confrontations have erupted from time to time. He said that this phenomenon can no longer continue.
Wang Yi announced that in order to support the Horn of Africa to achieve long-term peace and prosperity, China will appoint a special envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide necessary support for this goal.
China’s strategic interests in the Horn of Africa continue to expand. In 2016, the first electrified railway in Africa built by China to connect the capitals of Ethiopia and Djibouti in southern Eritrea was opened to traffic, and it was put into commercial operation in 2018.
In 2017, China established its first overseas military base in Djibouti, a country south of Eritrea.