China refutes "land grab" claims in Africa

BEIJING, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday refuted claims that it has been buying up land in Africa, calling for "concrete" efforts to help the continent's agricultural sector develop in a sustainable way.

"China always seeks food self-sufficiency through its own domestic output," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular press briefing.

Instead of grabbing land in Africa, China has been providing as much technical assistance as it can to help develop agriculture there and enhance the continent's capability of using its natural resources and addressing issues such as climate change and food security, Hong said.

"Those efforts are welcomed by the African nations," he added.

In response to a question on neo-colonialism, Hong said that "there is indeed neo-colonialism in Africa, but absolutely not from China." The spokesman did not identify which countries are the neo-colonialists.

"African countries have widely reached a consensus on this issue," Hong said, quoting South African President Jacob Zuma who had said that describing China's engagement with Africa as "neo-colonialism" was untruthful.