President Hu Jintao left China for his latest Africa tour yesterday.

His 12-day journey will take him to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles.

During the tour, Hu will meet the leaders of the eight nations, exchanging views on issues of common concern, said Foreign Ministry officials.

China-Africa cooperation dates back to long before today's days of scarce energy resources, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said at a regular news briefing yesterday, rebuffing accusations that China is practicing "colonialism" in Africa and only wants a relationship with the continent to secure energy supplies.

She said the partnership between China and Africa had endured for 50 years.

"Our cooperation is open, transparent and mutually-beneficial, and does not aim to harm any other countries," she said.

Replying to questions over Darfur, Jiang said China hopes the Darfur issue "can be properly solved through political negotiations."

"We hope the relevant parties can grasp the opportunity and keep up the momentum of dialogue in order to properly solve the issue and arrive at a consensus soon," she said.

(China Daily 01/31/2007 page2)