On the afternoon of May 26th, the Supreme Leader of president held talks with Congolese President Tshisekedi, who was on a state visit to China. The two heads of state announced that the strategic partnership of win-win cooperation between the two countries will be upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership.
Just the day before, the Organization of African Unity, the predecessor of the African Union, celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding. China and the African Embassy in China jointly held a reception in Beijing to celebrate Africa Day and had in-depth exchanges on deepening China-Africa cooperation.
China is the largest developing country in the world, Africa is the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries, and China and Africa have always been a community of destiny. In the decade of the new era, under the guidance of the true pro-Africa policy concept and the correct concept of justice and interests put forward by the Chairman of the Supreme Leader, the development of China-Africa relations has pressed the "acceleration button", entered the "fast lane" and entered a new era of building a closer community of destiny between China and Africa.
Come and go as often as relatives
In April 1955, the Bandung Conference was held in Indonesia. Chinese and African leaders shook hands for the first time across the mountains and seas, which kicked off friendly exchanges. From China’s support for the just cause of anti-imperialism, anti-colonialism and national liberation of African countries to a group of African countries’ support for China’s resumption of its legitimate seat in the United Nations, China and Africa have always supported each other and cooperated closely in the international arena. In the new era, China-Africa cooperation in various fields has been deepened and implemented from the docking development strategy to the implementation of the "Ten Major Cooperation Plans", "Eight Major Actions" and "Nine Projects".
Today, China-Africa relations are closer, and the leaders of the two sides come and go as often as relatives. Shake hands again and again, and freeze the eternal historical moment — —
In the past decade, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader visited Africa four times, and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held two summits. Since November last year, four African presidents have been invited to pay state visits to China, and more than a dozen officials from Africa at or above the ministerial level have visited China. The China-Africa Conference on Poverty Reduction and Development, the China-Africa Youth Gala and other activities have been held one after another, continuously injecting new connotations into the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation.
This is April 27, 2023, Taiping Shipping — — The new western land-sea channel, the Yangtze-Tiehai Intermodal African special train, is waiting for departure at Yuzui Station of Chongqing Orchard Port.
On May 26th, the Chairman of the Supreme Leader said in a meeting with President Tshisekedi that China firmly supports Africa’s independent development path and its becoming an important pole of world politics, economy and civilization, and is willing to provide new opportunities for African countries with its new development, implement the outcome of the Dakar meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation with African brothers, promote the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, support Africa’s sustainable development, and work together to build a community of destiny between China and Africa in the new era.
Under the current international situation, China and Africa need to strengthen unity and cooperation more than ever before. In April this year, Gabonese President Bongo said in an interview on the occasion of his visit to China that the global development initiative, the global security initiative and the global civilization initiative put forward by the Supreme Leader Chairman are highly compatible with the United Nations sustainable development goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063, promoting the protection of international peace and security and promoting the development and cultural prosperity of all countries.
Eritrean President Isaias also said during his visit to China in May that the current evolution of the international order is at a critical stage, African countries are still facing hegemonism and various unfair and unjust treatments, and the international community is more expecting and believing that China will make greater contributions to human development and progress and international fairness and justice.
Qin Gang, State Councilor and Foreign Minister, said in his speech at the reception celebrating Africa Day on the 25th that China has always supported the AU and African sub-regional organizations to play a leading role in solving regional conflicts and African people to solve African problems in an African way. It has always supported Africa to play a greater role on the world stage and insisted on speaking out for Africa on multilateral occasions such as the United Nations. It is the first country to explicitly support the AU’s accession to the G20.
Go hand in hand on the road of modernization
From the Kinsuka Bridge in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Parliament Building in Malawi, to the Algeria-1 communication satellite and the Lowe Dam in Sudan … … A number of China-Africa cooperation projects have become "national landmarks", bringing tangible benefits to the local people, and some have also been printed on the banknotes of African countries, which has become a vivid testimony of China-Africa friendship and mutual assistance.
On the Triumph Avenue in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the People’s Palace and Martyrs Stadium, which were aided by the China government in 1970s and 1980s, are located here. Across the street, the Central African Cultural and Art Center, which is shaped like "African Drum", is entering the sprint stage of completion. In the future, it is expected to become a new landmark of the largest city in Central Africa.
This is the construction site of the Central African Culture and Art Center project aided by China, which was filmed in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on May 23rd, 2023.
The Jinsuka substation around Kinshasa is also under construction as planned. Jinsuka Substation Project is the first major infrastructure and livelihood project jointly implemented by China and Congo after Congo (DRC) joined the Belt and Road Initiative in 2021. When completed, it will become the first automatic distribution network in Congo (DRC) and the largest and most technologically advanced 220kV substation in Kinshasa, which can significantly improve the power supply in the capital region of DRC and play a constructive role in promoting local economic development and regional integration in Central Africa.
Muvuni, Minister of State and Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said that infrastructure cooperation with China has made important contributions to the economic and social development of the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the years. Congo (DRC) has a great demand for interconnected infrastructure such as roads and railways, and the infrastructure cooperation between the two countries is promising.
Driven by the China-Africa Cooperation Forum and the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, Africa’s infrastructure construction has undergone earth-shaking changes. Today, China-Africa cooperation has built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of highways, nearly 1,000 bridges and nearly 100 ports, and network services cover nearly 700 million user terminals. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years.
Meng Yaai, director of the Africa-China Research Center of the University of Johannesburg in South Africa, said: "The success of Chinese modernization will inspire and influence the modernization of other countries in the world, especially for the modernization exploration of developing countries in Africa."
In his view, with the historical process of China’s Chinese-style modernization, "Africa-China cooperation has broad prospects, and the contents and forms of cooperation are increasingly rich. It is expected that the results of pragmatic cooperation between the two sides will better benefit the people of both sides."
The tree of friendship is more and more lush.
China-Africa relations are rooted in people and originated from exchanges. After careful cultivation and hard watering by both sides, the tree of China-Africa cooperation has grown sturdily, and today it is deeply rooted and fruitful.
The people of China will never forget that after the Wenchuan earthquake and Yushu earthquake, African countries and people generously supported the people of China in earthquake relief. People in Africa will always remember that more than 60 employees from China have been buried in Africa for the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, and China’s foreign aid medical team has been stationed in Africa since 1963. In the face of Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and other epidemics, China led the international community to help Africa fight the epidemic with practical actions, which explained the brotherhood between China and Africa through thick and thin.
On February 27th, 2023, in Ain Diffra, Algeria, 63-year-old Hariri Heyila (left) went to the hospital to thank Li Hongling, a doctor of China’s aid medical team.
In January this year, the completion ceremony was held for the first phase project of China’s African Center for Disease Control and Prevention. As the flagship project of cooperation with Africa announced at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018, the center is the first all-Africa CDC with modern office and experimental conditions and complete facilities on the African continent, which is of great significance for improving the speed of disease prevention, monitoring and epidemic emergency response in Africa.
Enetu Fred, a senior engineer of the AU Commission, said: "China’s support for Africa, as always, means what it says."
A batch of projects to reduce poverty and benefit the people have landed one after another, and a batch of agricultural experts from China went deep into the fields of the African continent to provide technical assistance on the spot. At the same time, China has actively established a "green channel" for African agricultural products to be exported to China. A large number of African agricultural products, such as Kenyan avocado, Tanzanian sesame, Senegalese peanuts and South African fresh pears, have entered the China market and are favored by consumers in China.
Talent cultivation is the key to the country’s future development. China helped build schools in many African countries and shared teaching experience, and actively promoted cooperation and exchanges between Chinese and African research and teaching institutions. Since the first Luban workshop in Africa landed in Djibouti in March 2019, China has built more than ten Luban workshops in Africa, which has promoted the development and innovation of vocational education in Africa and has been widely praised.
Mohamed Bel Hussein, Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology and Innovation of the African Union, said that strengthening cooperation between China and Africa in various fields, especially in capacity building, will continue to promote higher economic growth on the African continent.
At present, both China and Africa stand at a new historical starting point and are welcoming new important opportunities. Under the guidance and promotion of the head of state’s diplomacy, the construction of a community of destiny between China and Africa in the new era will surely achieve new historical achievements and make greater contributions to promoting the common prosperity and progress of mankind.
－END－
Planning: Ni Siyi Ying Qiang
Producer: Feng Junyang
Coordinator: Yan Jieyan, Han Mo, Xie Peng.
Reporter: Zhou Chuyun, Liu Wanli, Shi Wei, Xie Jiang, Xie Hao and Wang Ping
Editor: Zhao Yan Chen Shan Bird Zhang Dailei
Photography: Liu Weibing Huang Wei Shi Yu
Produced by Xinhua News Agency International Department