1st Ld-Writethru: Faki refutes report accusing China of spying on AU

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat said Thursday that accusations that China was spying on the AU are just rumors.

Faki made the remarks while meeting press with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi after they co-hosted the 7th China-AU strategic dialogue in Beijing. It was Faki's first visit to China since he assumed office in March 2017.

Faki said the ties between China and AU were "unshakable," and such reports could not damage their relations.

Faki noted that it was impossible and unnecessary for China to spy on the AU.

The French newspaper Le Monde has said China had bugged the AU Conference Center it had built and gifted to the AU in 2012, and had been downloading data from servers in the building.

"Now we are willing to cooperate more with China to benefit African people, and such rumors will not distract us," Faki told reporters.

Calling the AU Conference Center a symbol of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, Wang said China would never allow any person or any force to smear such a relationship.

"The AU and African people are best qualified to speak on the cooperation between China and Africa," Wang said.

Having dubbed the accusations as "the mindset of sour grapes," Wang said all such rumors were futile and attempts to sow dissension between China and Africa were doomed to fail in front of fruitful China-Africa cooperation. Enditem