China Says Premier's Africa Visit about More than Just Oil Deals

Angola is China's second-largest source of crude oil after Saudi Arabia.

Li's delegation will sign agreements in the four countries which "will provide a solid foundation for future China-Africa trade and economic development", Zhang said. He declined to say which company executives would accompany Li.

"FRIENDLY, COOPERATIVE"

It will be Li's first visit to Africa since he became premier last year, and follows on from a trip to the continent by President Xi Jinping in March 2013, when he renewed an offer of $20 billion in loans to Africa between 2013 and 2015.

Neither Zhang, nor Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Ming who was at the same news conference, would say if any new loans were in the offing.

"Aid to Africa is just one part of China and Africa's friendly cooperative relationship. It includes politics, trade and the economy, culture, society, peace and security," Zhang Ming said, areas Li would discuss on his trip.

China has a relationship with Africa which pre-dates its current resource-hungry economic boom. In previous decades, China's Communist leaders supported national liberation movements and newly independent states across the continent.