Gabon leader's visit to bolster relationship

Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba will make a four-day state visit to China starting on Tuesday. The trip is expected to further boost ties between the two nations.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Ali Bongo will be the first head of state of an African country to be received by President Xi Jinping since Xi's election as Chinese president in March.

Wang said at a regular news briefing on Friday that Xi will hold a welcome ceremony and banquet for the Gabonese leader, hold talks with him and attend a joint signing ceremony of cooperation documents.

Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress Zhao Leji will also meet with Ali Bongo.

China and Gabon — an important country in central Africa — have enjoyed sustained development of ties since establishing diplomatic relations in 1974.

The two countries have been firmly supporting each other over issues related to their core interests and major concerns, Wang said.

He noted that in recent years, China and Gabon have kept deepening political mutual trust, obtaining fruitful outcomes from pragmatic cooperation and working closely together on international and regional affairs.

Bilateral trade exceeded $4.5 billion in 2022, with a year-on-year increase of more than 50 percent, and China has provided government scholarship to Gabonese students since 1975, according to the Foreign Ministry.

"I believe President Ali Bongo's visit will provide new impetus for the comprehensive and in-depth development of bilateral ties, and generate new outcomes in our friendly cooperation," Wang said.

China values its ties with African countries, including Gabon, and has worked over the years to enhance pragmatic cooperation with the continent.

In a speech during his visit to Tanzania in 2013, President Xi outlined China's vision of its Africa policies, which is characterized by sincerity, real results, amity and good faith.

Beijing has provided more than 180 million doses of vaccines to Africa amid its COVID-19 response, and has taken part in the G20 Debt Service Suspension Initiative by signing such suspension agreements or reaching consensuses on debt suspensions with 19 African countries.

In another development, Wang said on Friday that claims that China plans to set up a "no-fly zone" are inaccurate, referring to reports about the Chinese mainland establishing such a zone north of the Taiwan region, on Sunday morning.

Recently, Chinese civil aviation and maritime authorities issued related notices, Wang said.

The civil aviation authorities did so according to common practice to notify related air traffic services and airspace users to be aware of airspace activities, Wang said, adding that related air traffic services should take measures according to the notices to ensure their flight safety.

Fujian Maritime Safety Administration issued an alert on Thursday, banning vessels from entering certain waters of the East China Sea from 9 am to 3 pm on Sunday due to potential falling rocket debris.

Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, blasted Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority for hyping that the Chinese mainland's normal airspace activities will affect the "Taipei flight information region".

The DPP authority is distorting facts and lying to the public in an attempt to increase tensions across the Taiwan Strait, Zhu said.