MOMBASA, Kenya : China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will tour Beijing-funded infrastructure projects in Kenya and discuss future economic opportunities with President Uhuru Kenyatta during a visit to the East African nation on Thursday.
Wang arrived in the Indian Ocean town of Mombasa late Wednesday from Eritrea, a closed-off country that was the first stop on his three-nation tour through Africa.
In November a trip to Africa by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in November, which was in part aimed at countering China's growing influence on the continent.
According to official Chinese figures, China is Africa's largest trading partner with direct trade worth more than $200 billion in 2019.
It has been accused of using its creditor status to extract diplomatic and commercial concessions.
China is Kenya's second largest lender after the World Bank and has funded a number of costly infrastructure projects that have raised concerns about Nairobi taking on more debt than it can afford.
During his visit, Wang will visit the Port of Mombasa, where China is building a new US $353 million terminal to allow larger oil tankers to berth.
He will meet with Kenyatta and a team of ministers to discuss trade and investment, health, security, climate change and green technology transfer.
The foreign ministry of Kenya said in a statement that the visit gives the two countries an opportunity to strengthen bilateral relations by signing agreements.
China has rejected suggestions that it has been lending to poorer African countries that have trapped cash-strapped governments in debt dependency.
Since independence, Beijing has funded Kenya's most expensive infrastructure project, loaning US $5 billion for the construction of a railway line from Mombasa, which opened in 2017.
Wang described the railway as a benchmark of China's Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar push to improve trade links across the globe by building landmark infrastructure during a visit to Mombasa in January 2020.
After Kenya, Wang heads to the Indian Ocean island nation of the Comoros.