By Xin Shunkang
CHINESE Premier Li Keqiang ended his four-nation official visit to Africa on May 12, 2014, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the first official visit by the then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Africa.
Standing together for half a century, the world has witnessed great changes in China and Africa’s positions on the international stage. From a once poor and weak country to the miracle of the world, China’s development has attracted worldwide attention. Africa has long become vibrant, becoming an important pole in the world political arena, a new economic growth pole, and a colourful-pole of human civilization. After decades of baptism, China-Africa friendship has been inherited and deepened.
China is building an upgraded version of China-Africa cooperation through diplomatic meetings, speeches, dialogues, cooperation documents and the kinds of activities, which led to the fruitful official visit of Premier Li Keqiang. China-Africa’s win-win cooperation represents a new starting point in international cooperation. The close and solid foundation of China-Africa cooperation and highly complementary economies during the past decades has made it imperative to enhance the cooperation between China and Africa. During his official visit to Africa, Premier Li Keqiang proposed to build an upgraded version of China-Africa cooperation, which received strong reaction and high appreciation from all walks of life in Africa. China is to implement the principle of “Sincerity, Real Results, Affinity and Good Faith” in China-Africa cooperation. China will carry out six big projects in China-Africa cooperation in the areas of industry, finance, poverty reduction, environmental protection, cultural exchange and peace and security in order to meet the development needs of Africa. China is concerned about the livelihood of the peoples of Africa; encouraging Chinese enterprises to feel the suffering of Africa sincerely and highlighting the China-Africa brotherhood. China proposed cooperation in the construction of three major networks of infrastructure in Africa, which has won widespread support from heads of state in Africa. China will also help Africa to protect the environment and enhance its capacity for environmental protection. Premier Li Keqiang’s official visit to Africa has injected new vitality into China-Africa cooperation, making it closer in order to achieve the great rejuvenation of the ‘China Dream’ with unity, development and revitalization of the ‘African Dream’. One is the world’s most populous developing country, while the other is the continent with the world’s largest concentration of developing countries. Facing the new situation and challenges of globalization and as the international situation changes, China and Africa need to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation and join hands going forward in order to realize their dreams. The new China-Africa cooperation will provide more opportunities for the development of our African partners. China has dedicated itself to helping Africa in building infrastructure, which is a major bottleneck in Africa’s development. If Africa is to seize the new opportunities presented by the China-Africa cooperation paradigm in industry, it will produce inevitable effects in self-development. China has proposed a cooperation framework of 461 and is committed to helping Africa achieve inclusive growth.
Stressing the cooperation principle of “Africa needs, Africa agrees, and Africa involves” and a series of new initiatives have shown the open and sincere diplomatic policy of China towards Africa.
A common historical experience, development tasks, strategic interests and spiritual pursuits constitute the roots of the traditional friendship between China and Africa. Today, after long years of trials and tribulations, the ship of China-Africa friendship and cooperation moves into a wider fairway.
It will forge ahead, and create a new world of China-Africa development.