DRC Government Tries to Reframe Underwhelming Beijing Visit

An edited quote from an interview between DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and the Chinese state broadcaster CGTN

Félix Tshisekedi, the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, left for a trip to Beijing last week amid sky-high expectations of both new deals and the significant reworking of current agreements widely seen in his country as favoring Chinese actors. None of this happened.

Instead, he returned with a fistful of non-binding MoUs to widespread dissatisfaction back home. Since then, DRC officials have worked overtime to try and spin the trip as a longer-term reawakening of the Sino-Congolese relationship rather than a failed attempt to rework extremely controversial mining deals with Chinese companies.

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by Cobus van Staden

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