The Democratic Republic of Congo aims to enhance its alliance with China as both nations engage in the process of renegotiating mining agreements concerning the DRC's mineral resources.
The recent State visit by President Félix
Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo to China represents a
significant milestone in a sequence of diplomatic interactions between African
heads of state and the Chinese government.
Mr Tshisekedi and his Chinese counterpart Xi
Jinping announced on Friday that they were upgrading "the bilateral
relationship from a win-win strategic cooperative partnership to a
comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership", according to a Chinese
foreign ministry statement.
China is a major investor in the DRC, where
the Asian power dominates the lucrative mining industry with companies such as
Sicomines.
But Mr Tshisekedi has publicly pledged to
renegotiate Congolese mining contracts, in particular the one signed in 2008
with China by his predecessor Joseph Kabila (2001-2019), in order to obtain
better conditions for his country.
On Friday, he was greeted by a line of honour
and jubilant children between meetings with Mr Xi and Premier Li Qiang.
Mr Li told Mr Tshisekedi that he believed
"China-DRC relations will surely achieve greater development and benefit
both peoples."
The large central African country is a major
exporter of copper, uranium and cobalt - a key ingredient in batteries for
consumer goods - but remains one of the world's poorest states.
A senior DRC official, Erik Nyindu Kibambe,
told reporters in Beijing that the mining renegotiation talks were going
"wonderfully", with the Congolese side hoping for an agreement by the
end of this year.
He said they were aiming for a state-to-state
agreement, rather than agreements between the DRC and individual mining
companies.
Félix Tshisekedi is the latest in a series of
African leaders to visit China in recent weeks, following delegations from
Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Gabon.
The African continent is at the heart of a
struggle for influence between the great powers, China, Russia and the United
States, who have all sent their heads of diplomacy to the region for rival
diplomatic offensives this year.
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