China said Friday it would continue to stand together with its "African brothers" in the future, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi concluded a routine visit to Africa at the start of the year.

China has a 27-year-long diplomatic tradition of making Africa the first overseas destination for its foreign ministers each year. During the 2017 trip, Wang visited Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, the Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

"China will continue to stand together with 'African brothers' and other developing countries in the future, no matter what level of development China is in," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a regular news briefing.

The visit showed that closer cooperation with developing nations, including Africa, is "the foundation of Chinese diplomacy," Lu said.

Lu said that China and the five African countries had reached consensus on deepening bilateral ties, implementing the outcomes of the Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2015 and upgrading China-Africa cooperation.

He said that leaders of the five African nations had reaffirmed their commitment to the one-China policy and welcomed China's greater role in African peace and development.

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