BEIJING, Jan. 24 -- A spokesman of the African Development Bank (ADB) said here Wednesday that Chinese President Hu Jintao's coming visit to Africa showed the commitment of the Chinese government to the continent.

"It shows the seriousness of commitment by the government of China that president Hu, who received all these African leaders (in November), is going out there to see for himself what is going on," said Eric Chinje, ADB director of communications.

Hu will pay state visits to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Mozambique and the Seychelles, from Jan. 30 to Feb. 10, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao announced on Tuesday.

"It is interesting to us that he goes out. He is making Africa one of the major areas of attention. So we are very pleased about this trip," said Chinje.

The ADB will hold its annual board meeting in Shanghai on May 16 and 17, and Chinje was here to inspect the preparations for the meeting.

Chinje said the ADB was a "critical player" in promoting China-Africa economic and trade relations.

"The ADB is a most reliable and efficient channel for development assistance to Africa. We have in place the structure, capacity and technical expertise to take development assistance and use it well, and produce results on the ground.

"Obviously, if China needs such a partner, at a time when this country wants to see Africa also develop, the ADB becomes a critical player in that process, and what we can do also for China is to provide Chinese companies to bring the technology, build infrastructure, to get involved in the process in Africa," said Chinje.

Chinje met with Xinhua News Agency deputy chief editor Liu Jiang on Wednesday morning and said he hoped Xinhua would report on the bank's annual meeting.

It is the first time for the annual board meeting of the ADB tobe held in Asia, and the second time out of Africa. In 2001, the bank's annual board meeting was held in Spain.

This is Chinje's sixth visit to China since 1977. He said he had seen changes in the China-Africa relationship, which was now at its most exciting period.

"When we came here in 1977, we got three things: building congress halls, doctors and stadiums -- what China did in most African countries.

"But now, we are talking about trade in the real sense, trade over a billion dollars. We are talking about Chinese goods and services into Africa and African goods and services coming into China, and investment and the whole areas from infrastructure to human development," said Chinje.

"China needs Africa, and Africa needs China. It's a mutual pactand mutual dependency," he said.

Asked to comment on reports by Western media that China's relationship with Africa was a "new colonialism", Chinje said the relationship was not what the media said.

"The Africans are aware of what they want now, so they (Chinese government) cannot even do that if they wanted to, and I don't think that's what they want to do. I think, as President Hu said in his speech in November, it has to be an exchange, it has to be interaction between the two sides," he said.