Qian to make African tour

Qian to make African tour

BEIJING (AFP): Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen is to make a 10-day African tour this month, Xinhua said yesterday, two days after Senegal shifted diplomatic recognition from Beijing to rival Taipei.

Qian, also a vice premier, will visit Tunisia, Chad, Djibouti and Seychelles between Jan. 11 to 20 at the invitations of their governments, the agency quoted foreign ministry spokesman Chen Jian as saying.

The announcement followed Senegal's diplomatic switch on Wednesday, which brought to 31 the number of countries recognizing Taiwan, 10 of which are African. Taiwan's biggest diplomatic ally is South Africa.

Beijing has viewed Taiwan as a renegade province since Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communists and bans nations with which it has diplomatic relations from maintaining anything but unofficial ties with Taipei.