For more than thirty years, Chinese foreign ministers have begun the year with a trip to the African continent. This year’s visit brought with it a surprise — the announcement of China’s first “special” political envoy to the Horn of Africa and a possible shift in Beijing’s longstanding policy of non interference.

In January, foreign minister Wang Yi announced that he would appoint a special envoy to foster “l(fā)asting stability, peace and prosperity” in the Horn of Africa, where “hotspot issues have intensified and sometimes erupted into conflicts”.

The announcement, which came during Wang’s tour of Eritrea, Kenya, and Comoros, can be seen partly as an attempt to annoy the US and other western powers, whose diplomatic efforts to end Ethiopia’s civil war and protect the democratic transition in Sudan have largely floundered.