China building logistic capacity overseas is "reasonable" and "consistent with international practice", Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Wang's comment came after a reporter asked him about a logistics facility the Chinese navy is building in Djbouti, an African country on the coast of the Gulf of Aden.

"Responding to actual needs and the wishes of the countries in question, we are trying to build some infrastructure and logistical capacity in regions with a concentration of Chinese interests. I think that is not just reasonable and logical, but also consistent with international practice," said Wang.

According to the Foreign Minister, there are 30,000 Chinese businesses operating and several million Chinese working and living all over the world, and China's non-financial outbound investment last year reached $118 billion.

"It is a pressing task for China's diplomacy to better protect our ever-growing overseas interests," he said.

The construction of a logistics facility in Djibouti for the Chinese navy was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry on Feb 5.

China and Djibouti agreed on China constructing the facility, which will provide and store supplies to Chinese forces that conduct various operations in the Gulf of Aden, such as escort missions and humanitarian aid, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a news conference on Feb 5.

Wang said on Tuesday that China, the biggest contributor of peacekeeping personnel of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget, has sent escort missions off the Somali coast since 2008, and has dispatched 22 fleets to escort over 6,000 Chinese and foreign ships passing through these waters.