China's new president to visit Russia, Africa

BEIJING - China's new president will pay his maiden state visits to Russia, Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of Congo and attend the fifth leaders' summit of BRICS countries in Durban, said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Saturday.

The BRICS summit will be held in Durban from March 26 to 27.

Commenting on the new president's visit to Russia, Yang said China hopes to take the opportunity to inject a strong impetus to the Sino-Russian comprehensive and strategic partnership.

"China and Russia are each other's biggest neighbors and see each other as a significant opportunity for development and a priority partner for cooperation," Yang said at the press conference held on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session.

A new state leadership will be formed at the session of the National People's congress, which will conclude on March 17.

Yang said the new president's visit to Africa fully demonstrated China's commitment to growing its relations with African countries.

"China and African countries are good brothers, good friends and good partners," he said.

Yang said he hoped all parties can view the cooperation between China and African countries in an objective manner, and respect the African friends in choosing cooperative partners by themselves.

"If you want to walk fast, walk alone; if you want to walk afar, walk together," Yang said, citing a traditional African proverb to elaborate the importance of cooperation with African countries.

Many countries are advancing their cooperation with Africa, and China welcomes such cooperation, he said.

Yang said strategic partnership between China and Africa has developed fast over the years, and the two sides are actively implementing the follow-up actions to the fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

"China and Africa will especially promote cooperation in such fields as investment and financing, assistance, African integration, civilian exchanges, peace and security in Africa," he said.

Yang called for more exchanges, less suspicions and accusations toward cooperation between China and African countries, and jointly promoting peace, stability and development in Africa.

Yang also expected the visit by the new president to strengthen partnership among the BRICS countries, improve the BRICS mechanism, and boost the cooperation between BRICS nations and countries in Africa and other regions.

"The BRICS mechanism has become an important force in countering the international financial crisis, driving world economic growth, improving the governance of the global economy, and promoting democracy in international relations," Yang said.

BRICS is an economic bloc representing five of the world's leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

BRICS member countries represent about 43 percent of the world population and approximately one fifth of the global gross domestic product.