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.