Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali arrived in Beijing at 08:12 on Wednesday to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which will be held in the Chinese capital from Wednesday to Friday.
Ethiopia is a landlocked country in northeast Africa. The plateau accounts for two-thirds of the country's area, with an average elevation of nearly 3,000 meters, known as the "roof of Africa".
China and Ethiopia enjoy traditional friendship. In October 2023, China and Ethiopia upgraded their relationship to an all-weather strategic partnership. Ethiopia is a member of the FOCAC and a new member of BRICS. China and Ethiopia have jointly built flagship projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, including the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway and the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit.
Economic and technological cooperation between China and Ethiopia began in 1971, with agreements on trade and economic and technological cooperation between the two countries signed. So far, China has completed complete sets of projects for Ethiopia, including roads, veterinary stations, power stations and water supply projects.
China is Ethiopia's largest trading partner, the largest source of investment, and the largest contractor for engineering projects. In 2023, the bilateral trade volume reached 3.03 billion U.S. dollars, up 14.7 percent year on year. Ethiopia is China's largest source of sesame imports.
In 1988, the two countries signed an agreement on cultural cooperation. It has seen mutual frequent visits by cultural delegations and performing troupes. From 2022 to 2023, a total of 3,732 Ethiopian students studied in China. There are currently two Confucius Institutes in Ethiopia.
Since 1974, China has sent 26 medical teams to Ethiopia, including two relief teams. At present, there are 16 Chinese medical team members in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is the first African country where young Chinese have gone to serve as volunteers and the destination country for outbound tourism groups of Chinese citizens. Ethiopian Airlines operates flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hong Kong and other places, making it the African airline with the most flights to China.
Ethiopian prime minister arrives in Beijing for 2024 FOCAC Summit
The People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s drills in the Taiwan Strait show its "all-weather" combat readiness and capabilities, military experts said on Monday.
The PLA Eastern Theater Command on Monday organized army, navy, air force and rocket force troops to conduct "Joint Sword-2024B" drills in the Taiwan Strait and the north, south and east of the island of Taiwan.
The Liaoning aircraft carrier group participated in the drill, said Li Xi, spokesperson of the Eastern Theater Command.
During the military exercise, the air and sea forces coordinated with each other as the Liaoning aircraft carrier group deployed at a choke point east of Taiwan island, with the bomber formation breaking the "first island chain" and conducting joint exercises with the aircraft carrier group.
"What does an aircraft carrier do? An aircraft carrier is a portable airport on the sea, and it has a relatively larger combat radius. So its presence reflects the great improvement on our army's cooperative combat and joint operation capability so as to be ready for any such situation in the future," said Meng Xiangqing, a professor at the National Defense University of Chinese People's Liberation Army.
The operations were accompanied by patrols of China Coast Guard vessels, showcasing the PLA's enhanced joint command and combat capabilities.
The exercises also simulated blockades of key ports, presenting the PLA's ability to conduct such operations if necessary. "In this drill, we enriched our operation pattern including sea-air combat police patrol, the containment of key ports and areas, jointly seizing air and sea control and long-range precision strikes on critical targets. Meanwhile, we employed flexible organization of fire units and strike modules. It can be seen that the PLA's toolbox is getting more resourceful and its fist is getting stronger," said Zhang Chi, associate professor at National Defense University of Chinese People's Liberation Army. The exercises commenced overnight into Monday, with forces rapidly deploying and initiating military deterrence actions by 05:00, and experts say the drills send out a clear signal of the PLA's combat capabilities and readiness.
"What do [the drills] imply? They imply that the combat readiness level of our army is very high, at all times. Last night the Eastern Theater Command issued a poster with just four words 'be ready for battle'. That means delivering all-weather battle readiness, ready to fight at any time," Meng said.
PLA drills shows "all-weather" capacity, combat readiness: military experts
