Wang Yi’s current visit to Africa is the continuation of a 32-year tradition where the first overseas trip of the year by a Chinese Foreign Minister is always to Africa.
This custom didn’t historically attract much attention, but now it’s become a hallmark of China’s Africa policy and the most visible demonstration of its commitment to the continent, especially when measured against much less frequent visits by U.S., Japanese and European high-level officials.
It’s still something of a mystery how the Foreign Ministry selects the itineraries of these January tours. No one has clearly explained what goes into the decision-making process and there doesn’t appear to be any regional pattern.
The one thing that does stand out, however, and this is the case with the current trip, is that the foreign ministers don’t only go to the big countries. Smaller countries like Eritrea and Benin seem to get as much attention as larger ones.
The nationalist tabloid Global Times published a helpful list on Wednesday of each country that a Chinese FM visited during the January tours dating back to 1991:
