China's top diplomat Wang Yi has praised the Asian nation’s economic partnership with Kenya, terming it a “win-win.” Yi is on a visit to the East African nation.
Kenya and China have “become good friends with mutual trust in politics and good partners with win-win economic cooperation”, according to a statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya on Saturday.
With the most dynamic economy in East Africa, Kenya is considered by the international community as a stable democracy in a troubled region.
China is the second-largest donor to Kenya after the World Bank. In Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast, China is financing the construction of a new terminal in East Africa's largest port.
China has also loaned $5 billion toward the most expensive infrastructure project in the country since its independence in 1963: a train line that since 2017 has connected the port city of Mombasa with Naivasha, in the Rift Valley, via the capital Nairobi.
‘Landmark project’
“The landmark project of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has completely changed the face of Kenya,” the embassy's statement said.
Kenyan President William Ruto, elected last year, in a tweet, stressed “our commitment to strengthening the Kenya-China strategic partnership centred on infrastructure development, climate change.”
China is often accused of using its creditor status for gaining diplomatic or trade concessions, raising concerns about many African countries' ability to assume the debts contracted.
China, the world's number two economy, rejects practising “debt-trap diplomacy” as an unfair criticism from Western rivals who have themselves burdened nations with huge debts
Heavy debt
Kenya's economy is particularly burdened by debts of $70 billion, around 67% of its GDP.
After visiting Kenya, Wang will visit South Africa on July 24 and 25 ahead of the BRICS summit next month, a group that includes South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia.
