A medical staff member of the 21st batch of the China medical team in Ethiopia checks an Ethiopian pregnant woman at Tirunesh-Beijing Hospital in Akaki neighborhood on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Aug. 17, 2020. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)
China-Africa cooperation and friendship will be advanced to a new level instead of being disrupted by fake news, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Monday.
Wang made the remarks at a press briefing in response to a media outlet saying that suspected Chinese hackers stole camera footage from the African Union (AU), which referred to reports two years ago that China monitored AU headquarters.
Calling the news "false information," Wang said the so-called monitoring was completely fake news, nonsense "that has long been thrown into the trash bin" by African friends, including the leaders of the AU Commission and many African countries.
Noting that China-Africa ties have experienced an extraordinary year in 2020, Wang said both sides have helped each other and together overcome difficulties in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
China has sent medical experts to 15 African nations to assist their anti-coronavirus campaigns, signed debt relief agreements with 12 African countries, reduced or waived the interest-free loans of 15 African nations due at the end of 2020, and started building the headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ahead of schedule, Wang said.
China will continue to work with Africa to strengthen the alignment of their development strategies, promote the joint construction of the Belt and Road, facilitate more Chinese investment in Africa, and strive to increase commodity imports from Africa, he said.
China and Africa will also explore new cooperation areas such as free trade zones, digital economy, poverty alleviation and climate change mitigation, to advance China-Africa cooperation to a new level, he said.
