China To Support African Countries With 1bn Yuan

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – China’s minister of foreign affairs, Wang Yi, has stated that the Asian country will give African countries Y1 billion – over $130 million – for strengthening their military and police forces.

Yi stated this on Thursday through an interpreter after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the Aso Rock villa.

The African Examiner writes that the Chinese minister is in Nigeria to consolidate on the agreements agreed by President Xi Jinping and Tinubu when President Tinubu visited China last year.

According to Yi, China would also help Africa in building a standby force.

“China will firmly support Africa in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, practicing true multilateralism and not letting power politics and bullyism find their place in Africa,” he said.

“China will also firmly support Africa in achieving security through development. We will work with Africa to jointly carry out the 10 partnership actions and make good use of the 360 billion yuan of funding support announced at the summit.

“Nigeria is an important country in Africa and the chair of ECOWAS, it plays an important role in safeguarding peace and stability in Western Africa and the Sahel region.”

While speaking, Yusuf Tuggar, the minister of foreign affairs, stated that Nigeria has shown its capabilities over time in addressing the issues of peace and security in the African continent.

“We want to work with countries like China in domestic production of military equipment, both kinetic and non kinetic,” Tuggar said.

“This is what we are looking for, so that we don’t have to go out looking to procure and the delays and the you know, so many rules and regulations we need to be able to produce locally.

“Nigeria is a very responsible country working with the constitution, and that’s why, and we’ve never had any expansionist tendencies, which is why others reposed so much confidence in us and in our leadership.”