China & Equatorial Guinea. Photo:VCG

As President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo kicked off his visit to China on Sunday, Chinese experts said his visit aims to consolidate cooperation in traditional fields and also expand bilateral collaboration to new fields so as to diversify the African country's economy and enhance its industrial capacity. 

China's partnership with Equatorial Guinea is being hailed as a model for South-South cooperation, with experts pointing to the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship. Unlike some Western countries, which have been criticized for their condescending attitudes toward developing nations, China and Equatorial Guinea are seen as treating each other as equals in their dealings.

At the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Obiang will pay a state visit to China from May 26 to 31, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Thursday.

President Obiang is a long-standing friend of the Chinese people. During the visit, President Xi will hold a welcome ceremony and a welcome banquet for him. They will then hold talks and attend the signing ceremony of cooperation documents together. Premier Li Qiang and Zhao Leji, chairman of National People's Congress Standing Committee, will meet with him respectively. President Obiang will also visit East China's Shandong Province, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Thursday.

Since taking office as president of Equatorial Guinea in 1982, Obiang has visited China 10 times, the most recent visit being in 2018 to attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xinhua reported.

"China has supported Equatorial Guinea in many fields, both economic and technical. Equatorial Guinea is satisfied with the support we receive from the People's Republic of China. You could even say that part of the transformation of Equatorial Guinea is precisely due to the economic support from the Chinese government," Obiang told Xinhua in an interview published on Wednesday.

Equatorial Guinea hopes that China will assist in its economic diversification, continue technology transfers and increase support for talent training to help the country lay a solid foundation for independent development, he said.

China's current cooperation with Equatorial Guinea mainly focuses on infrastructure, technological cooperation, and other related areas, Song Wei, a professor from the School of International Relations at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Sunday. He noted that China has supported Equatorial Guinea in constructing various infrastructure projects and providing technological cooperation to enhance their independent development capabilities.

In the future, China will work toward promoting industrialization in Equatorial Guinea, as the resource-rich country is in urgent need of diversifying its economic development and industrialization. Therefore, China will continue to encourage more Chinese companies to invest in Equatorial Guinea and set up factories to support its industrial development capabilities, said Song.

When he met with Obiang in 2018 in Beijing, Xi said the China-Equatorial Guinea friendship had become increasingly solid with the passage of time, calling it "a fine example of South-South cooperation" and describing the two countries as reliable partners and brothers who had jointly injected new vitality into their comprehensive cooperative partnership.

One of the important reasons for China-Equatorial Guinea friendship being a fine example of South-South cooperation is that our relationship has always been based on equality, said Song.

Song noted that China has never viewed its cooperation with Equatorial Guinea as a one-sided gift. When supporting the development of Equatorial Guinea, China also benefits by promoting the development of its own enterprises and seizing market opportunities in this African country. This kind of mutually beneficial cooperation is sustainable and ensures mutual benefits for both countries.

In recent years, some Western countries, the most prominent among them being the US, have become envious of China's booming collaboration with African countries. 

US officials previously claimed that China is going to open a military base in Equatorial Guinea. However, Washington Post cited a national security official as saying in February this year that Washington has seen no signs of military construction at a Chinese-built, deep-water commercial port in the city of Bata.

A tactic frequently adopted by US politicians to hype China's cooperation with African countries is to demonize such cooperation as a Chinese attempt to expand its powers and hype the so-called China threat rhetoric, Zhang Junshe, a Chinese military expert, told the Global Times on Sunday. He noted that such moves reflected the US' unwillingness to deepen ties with African countries.

US media also reported in 2022 that over the past year, the Biden administration had dispatched a stream of high-level officials to Equatorial Guinea, in a quiet campaign to convince it to start shedding its ties to China.

Song noted that because of its important geological location, Equatorial Guinea has become of significant strategic value to the US, which is why Washington wants to cozy up to this African country. 

The fundamental difference between China and the US in cooperating with Africa is that China truly sees Africa as a potential partner for cooperation and mutual benefit, rather than engaging in ideological competition or geopolitical games for influence in Africa, as the US does, said Song.