NAIROBI, Jan 5, Reuters - China's foreign minister visited Kenya on Wednesday, where the government relied on Chinese loans to develop infrastructure, but faces criticism over the resulting debt burden.
The Kenyan foreign ministry described the visit by Wang Yi, who is also a state councillor, as historic It said security, health, climate change and green technology transfer would be discussed and new bilateral agreements would be signed.
After Eritrea and before Comoros, Kenya is the second of three stops on Wang's African tour. In November, Eritrea joined Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative BRI, a long-term plan to fund and build infrastructure linking China to the rest of the world.
China has lent African countries billions of dollars as part of the BRI, including $5 billion for the construction of a modern railway from the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
That model has been evolving due to a backlash from African critics against rising debt levels and the strain of the COVID 19 pandemic. China is shifting from hard infrastructure loans to efforts to boost trade.
Kimani Ichung'wah, a ruling party lawmaker who has become a critic of the government, is one of the critics of Kenya's reliance on Chinese funding.
Before Wang's visit, he told Reuters that the interest rates on Chinese loans were exorbitant and they should start renegotiating.
Ichung'wah is backing William Ruto, the estranged deputy to President Uhuru Kenyatta, to take over the presidency in an election scheduled for August, and said that if Ruto wins, he would seek new terms for the loan repayments.
Eritrea, one of the poorest and most isolated nations in the world, is involved in the conflict in Tigray in northern Ethiopia that has destabilised the Horn of Africa region.
Lina Benabdallah, an expert on China-Africa relations at Wake Forest University in the United States, said Wang's visit signalled Beijing's interest in restoring stability to the Horn and improving access to Africa via Eritrea's Red Sea ports.
Peter Kagwanja, a professor of international relations at the University of Nairobi, said the stop of the Comoros was likely linked to trade interests. He said the Indian Ocean archipelago is strategically important for Beijing because it is located on the rim of a maritime trade route known as the Maritime Silk Road in China.