CAIRO: Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Sunday denied his country was seeking to become a counterbalance to the United States by boosting ties with Africa as he kicked off a tour of the continent. He said his booming economy was in need of Africa s natural resources but hit back at accusations that Beijing was conducting a policy of aggressive economic neo-colonialism at the expense of human rights considerations. Our efforts to develop relations with countries in Africa and Latin America ... are not targeted at any third country, Wen said at a press conference in Cairo before flying to Ghana on the next leg of his tour. Those attempts and efforts to develop relations are not directed at entering into any alliance and will not compromise the interests of any other countries. I m confident that the U.S. government also recognizes this, he said. Wen Jiabao held talks with President Hosni Mubarak Sunday on the first leg of a seven-nation tour of Africa aimed at shoring up energy and mineral resources for his country s booming economy. The two men discussed bilateral relations and the latest developments in the Middle East, said the official MENA news agency. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and the two countries foreign ministers, Li Zhaoxing and Ahmed Abul-Gheit, also attended the meeting, MENA said. Among the regional issues discussed was the current standoff with Iran. We believe the Iran nuclear issue needs to be resolved through diplomatic channels, Wen told reporters. We also believe that the six countries involved have already put on the table a quite good proposal on a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue (which) has certainly laid a foundation for peaceful talks, said Wen, whose remarks were translated from Mandarin into English. Wen s 24-hour visit coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Egypt, which was the first African country to establish ties with the People s Republic of China. Both sides marked the event with celebrations at the foot of the Giza pyramids which involved no less than 140 artists and included folkloric dances and concerts. Wen, who met Nazif on Saturday, signed 11 trade, business and cooperation deals with Egypt, including a framework agreement on cooperation in the field of oil and gas. The agreements signed on Saturday include one between partially privatised state company Telecom Egypt and the Chinese company Huawei Technologies to manufacture CDMA wireless local loop terminals. Egypt is becoming a significant exporter of liquefied natural gas to Europe and the United States but not yet to Asia. China is a growing exporter to Egypt, with Chinese vehicles now starting to appear in the market, but the volume of trade with China is still much smaller than trade with the United States and the big European economies. Nazif called on Wen to boost Chinese investment in Egypt and push the creation of a planned joint industrial zone near the Egyptian port city of Suez, government spokesman Magdi Radi said. Wen s trip is the latest in a series of high-profile visits between the two countries. Mubarak, who has traveled to China six times since taking power in 1981, is expected in Beijing again before the end of the year. Bilateral trade reached 2.2 billion in 2005, with the balance leaning heavily in China s favor. Wen s African tour will include a stop in Angola, and five other countries that helped boost Beijing s trade with the continent to $39.5 billion last year. Angola is China s second-largest oil supplier, but Beijing s growing economic power may mean his welcome is tempered by resentment in some of the countries he visits. Thirsty for oil and raw materials, China has poured billions into African countries blessed with mineral wealth, building on a legacy of goodwill from its support of independence movements in the 1960s and 70s. Agencies
