Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang gives a speech to an African Union delegation on 5 May 2014 in Addis Ababa. Li Keqiang’s first official trip to sub-Saharan Africa as Chinese premier from 4-11 May 2014 is a reminder that China is a major player in Africa today. The trade figures speak for themselves:  in 2009, China overtook the United States as Africa's biggest trading partner, and some 2,500 Chinese firms operate on the continent. Bilateral trade between China and African countries reached $210 billion in 2013 and Angola was also for China the second largest source of imported oil after Saudi Arabia.