LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will start a two-day visit to the southern African nation of Zambia on Wednesday that will focus on the $1.4 billion refurbishment of a Cold War-era railway line to further improve China's access to critical minerals.

China is heavily invested in mining in Zambia, which is one of the world's top producers of copper that is integral to the production of electronic devices.

Li, who holds China's No. 2 leadership position after President Xi Jinping, will meet with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on Thursday, Hichilema said in a statement. The two countries will sign documents to start the upgrade of the Tazara railway line linking Zambia's mines to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam on Africa's east coast.

China, Zambia and Tanzania signed a deal in September giving the state-owned China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation concessions to carry out the upgrade.

The Tazara rail line was built by the three countries in the 1970s to avoid relying on transport links through what was then Rhodesia and South Africa, which were under white minority governments.

The railway has taken on renewed significance for China after a United States-backed project to build a railway from Zambia and neighboring Congo out to Africa's Atlantic Ocean coast in Angola gained momentum last year when then-U.S. President Joe Biden visited part of that project.

The two railways, one going west and the other going east, represent competition between the U.S. and China for access to the critical minerals that are also key for renewable energy technology, electric car batteries and defense systems.

China is the dominant player in mining in Zambia and Congo and leads the global race for critical minerals. President Donald Trump has moved to increase U.S. supply chains in a bid to counter its economic rival.

Li is visiting Zambia on the way to South Africa for this weekend's Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, the first to be held in Africa. The U.S. is boycotting the summit over Trump's criticism of the South African government.

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AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa