China, Kenya 'good friends with mutual trust in politics': Envoy
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The Chinese embassy in Kenya calls the two countries' economic partnership as a "win-win".
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China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks with Kenya's Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Raychelle Omamo in Kenya on Thursday, January 6, 2022. (AP)
China's top diplomat Wang Yi, during a visit to Kenya on Saturday, commended the two nations' economic cooperation as a "win-win", according to a Chinese government statement.
According to the Chinese embassy in Kenya, the two nations have "become good friends with mutual trust in politics and good partners with win-win economic cooperation."
Kenya, with the most active economy in East Africa, is regarded by the world community as a stable democracy in a dangerous area.
After the World Bank, China is Kenya's second-largest lender.
China has also lent $5 billion to Kenya's most costly construction endeavor since 1963; a train line that has connected Mombasa, the port city, to Naivasha, in the Rift Valley, through Nairobi since 2017.
"The landmark project of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has completely changed the face of Kenya," according to the embassy statement.
William Ruto, the Kenyan President elected last year, Tweeted the country's "commitment to strengthening the Kenya-China strategic partnership centered on infrastructure development, climate change."
China, the world's second-largest economy, denies accusations of "debt-trap diplomacy" from Western nations who have themselves saddled nations with massive loans.
Kenya's economy is severely burdened by loans of $70 billion, or around 67 percent of GDP.
Following his visit to Kenya, Wang will go to South Africa on July 24 and 25 in preparation for the BRICS conference next month, which will include South Africa, Brazil, China, India, and Russia.
