Lying in the central-western part of the African continent, the Republic of Equatorial Guinea covers an area of 28,000 square km composed of the mainland and a number of islands. It has a population of 1.01 million mostly belonging to the Fang and Bubi as major ethnic groups. Its religious population is predominantly Roman Catholic, Muslim and Christian. Spanish and French are the official languages. Malabo is the national capital. The current president is Obiang Nguem Mbasogo.

Since Equatorial Guinea established diplomatic relations with China on October 15, 1970, bilateral relations have been developing smoothly and great progress has been made in bilateral cooperation in the areas such as the economy, trade, culture, education and health. President Obiang paid two visits to China in 2001 and 2005. In 2002, Xu Jialu, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, visited Equatorial Guinea. Bilateral trade totaled 1.457 billion U.S. dollars in 2005.