THE African Union has called on new Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang to support its push for a permanent seat on the United Nations security council.

However, Mr Qin, who was appointed last month, made no direct reference to the bloc gaining permanent representation on the UN council when he spoke the opening of the Chinese-built headquarters of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mr Qin emphasised China’s partnership with Africa in security and economic development and said that Beijing supported the African Union’s “greater representation and voice at the UN security council and other international organisations.”

China is one of the council’s five permanent members.

African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told a joint news conference that the continent’s lack of permanent representation on the council was a “burning issue,” considering that most issues on its agenda are related to African countries.

“It is unacceptable that others decide in the place of others,” he said. “It is not fair. We need a new order at the international level which will respect the interests of others.”

Mr Qin is on a week-long visit to Africa, also taking in Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt, which is his first overseas trip as foreign minister.

For more than three decades, Chinese foreign ministers have started their terms by going to Africa, whose population as a continent rivals that of China. The people’s republic has invested heavily in African countries’ infrastructure, including roads, railways and hospitals.

Mr Qin rejected the idea that China was competing in Africa with the United States, which sought last month to reassert its influence by hosting a US-Africa summit in Washington.

“What Africa needs is solidarity and co-operation, not bloc competition,” Mr Qin said, adding: “No-one has the right to force African countries to take sides.”