- Programme Director;
- Leaders of The Peoples Republic of China and the 54 African countries that have established diplomatic relations with China and the Commission of the African Union
- The Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)
- Xing Zhihong, Deputy Secretary of CPC Jinhua Municipal Committee, Mayor of Jinhua Municipal People’s Government
- Zheng Mengzhuang, Chair of the University Affairs Committee of Zhejiang Normal University
- Gu Jianxin, Director General, Department of Foreign Affairs of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government
- Liu Yuxi, Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs
- Representative from Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government
- Pierre Gomez, Minister of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Technology of the Republic of Gambia
I would like to start by thanking The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), for inviting world leaders; non-governmental organisations; academic institutions; business leaders, civil society; and the people of China and Africa to participate in, exchange knowledge and share valuable ideas at this most auspicious 12TH MEETING OF THE CHINA AND AFRICA THINK TANKS FORUM.
Indeed this year is most special, as we have heard from our esteemed colleagues whom grace us with their presence and astute expertise from around the world, that this year is a special year as it marks the:
60th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity; the 60th anniversary of late Premier Zhou Enlai’s first visit to Africa; the 60th anniversary of China’s dispatch of medical teams to Africa; and also the 10th anniversary of President Xi Jinping first put forward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Principles of Sincerity, Real Results, Amity and Good Faith and the Principles of Pursuing the Greater Good and Shared Interests; as well as the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
As we gather to continue contributing to the implementation of the outcomes of the important Forum for China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), and make innovative strides to advancing the quality and efficiency of practical cooperation, we are faced with a common task for ourselves and the great international community. We encounter an enduring responsibility that not only obliges us all to propel China-Africa friendship by strengthening our cooperation with each other, but we are also bound by a noble duty to stretch our arms wider and embrace more people through deeper understanding, and create an enhanced impact to global peace and development by reinforcing our ties and solidary in the security and coordination of international affairs.
Jointly, our efforts bear fruit and have done so for many, many years, as can be witnessed by the presentations by experts and scholars of the past 12 Meetings who consistently put forward more practical and effective policy suggestions, build consensus on development, and further driving our accord in implementing the Global Development Initiative.
With the past as the great revealer of forgotten virtues and truths of nations that often go untold, let us look to the scholars and historians to remind us of how far our friendship extends and how rooted our commonality exists today and long into the years that came before us.
With a history of adversity and inequality, the people of Africa and China are no strangers to hardships of tough geopolitical and economic realities, however, we are more accustomed to each other’s abiding good will and solidarity that may meet the eye and that is celebrated worldwide.
A book published by Oxford University Press entitled, “China–Africa and an Economic Transformation”, edited by Arkebe Oqubay and Justin Yifu Lin, offers some insightful assessments on the trajectory of China-Africa relations.
Accordingly the book admits that,
“with China–Africa economic ties having entered a new phase, it is important to review the past twenty-five years and assess key economic policies and strategies that will shape future China and Africa ties.
China’s economic rebalancing as it prepares to enter the ‘fourth industrial revolution’, the recently launched Belt and Road initiative (BRI), and new policy directions announced during FOCAC VII in September 2018, present both opportunities and challenges for African countries. Similarly, the Africa of 2018 is significantly different economically from Africa in 2000 when the first FOCAC was launched.”
The opening pages of the book go on to describe the relationship between China and Africa as,
“in its early stages and that it is too early to arrive at any conclusion as to whether this relationship is necessarily good or bad.”
Programme Director,
Although it is important to engage in constructive criticism and robust dialogue on the nature and unfolding of events, it is equally important to recognise the essence of solidarity and cooperation and the aspect of truth and facts, as told in by the timeline of history. The bottom-line is that the relationship between China and Africa is good, and is as prosperous as we choose it to be through our dedication and commitment to growing multilateral relations and building on our many historical years of shared trade, cultural exchange and matched support.
One would go a long way to try and deny such truth, and in fact we may use the pages of the very same book entitled, “China–Africa and an Economic Transformation” to offer insight into the very reasons why the goodwill between our nations is so entrenched in our hearts and mind, and the chronicles of history.
If there was ever any doubt cast over the vital importance the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the CHINA AND AFRICA THINK TANKS FORUM, and similar such organisations, one need only look at history to fortify our convictions and energise our mindful allocation of effort and intellect into our shared vision of the future.
Author, David H. Shinn, in Chapter 4 of the book introduces us to China–Africa Ties in Historical Context, stating that:
“China began trading with North-east Africa before the Christian era. Several Chinese travellers reportedly visited Africa during the early part of the Christian era. China’s first significant contact with Africa occurred during the Ming Dynasty when the fifth and sixth voyages of the famous Zheng He naval fleet reached the north-east coast of Africa during the first quarter of the fifteenth century. The voyages were, however, an anachronism in Chinese history and were followed by a return to China’s inward-looking approach to the rest of the world.
A hiatus in the China–Africa relationship then set in for several centuries until Chinese labourers and traders came to several regions of Africa beginning in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
After taking power in 1912, Sun Yat Sen and the Republic of China (ROC) developed official relations with South Africa, where a Chinese community had become well established. South Africa soon became and remains the country with the largest number of persons of Chinese origin on the African continent. Most of the early migrants retained a strong allegiance to China and supported the Chinese nationalist party, the Kuomintang. The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) united the Chinese community in South Africa with China and led to fund-raising campaigns in support of The Republic of China (ROC). The ROC had brief interaction with independent Liberia and was in contact with the Chinese community in the French colony of Madagascar.
Relations between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Africa were slow to develop because of Mao Zedong’s need to consolidate power and the fact that there were few independent African nations in 1949. Several themes subsequently developed in the China–Africa relationship as it became more intense.
First, there have been different phases in China’s relations with Africa that depend largely on global issues, and political and economic developments in China, not in Africa. They began with China’s support for African revolutionary movements, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, the Cold War, and the Sino-Soviet split during the leadership of Mao Zedong. This was followed by China’s more pragmatic foreign policy, a focus on China’s domestic reform, and a pulling back from Africa under Deng Xiaoping. Jiang Zemin reached out to Africa and set the stage for a major expansion of the China–Africa relationship. Hu Jintao took advantage of his efforts and significantly increased China’s trade, aid, and investment with Africa.
Xi Jinping has continued the economic engagement begun by Hu Jintao and expanded China’s involvement in the security and political sectors, especially party-to-party cooperation.”
With history as our teacher, it would be perceptive that Africa has much to learn and much to gain from economic, political and social ties with China, as can be seen in the major thrust of China’s economic development.
… (F)rom 1980 to 1984, Africa’s global merchandise exports averaged US$79 billion annually. In 1983, China exported only US$50 billion worth of goods. In the years immediately after Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, even the economies of South Africa and Egypt were probably stronger than the economy of China. By the 1990s, however, China had a significant political and economic advantage over African countries individually and collectively. In 2016, China’s global merchandise trade was US$3.7 trillion; Africa’s was US$790 million.
Lessons and know-how to be learnt and embraced; experience and best-practice to be studied and trained; wisdom and worldliness to be patiently passed on to those who are willing to prove that solidarity and cooperation are paramount.
A recent article that was published by Chatham House, by Alex Vines Jon Wallace entitled, “A brief history of China-Africa relations”, further highlights how crucial Africa has been to China’s foreign policy since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1947. China supported several African liberation movements during the Cold War, and for every year since 1950 bar one, the foreign minister of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has first visited an African country.
The article goes on to point out how China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang visited five African countries and the African Union in January 2023. Wang Yi, the former foreign minister, visited 48 African countries and premier Xi Jinping undertook 10 visits to Africa between 2014 and 2020.
Furthermore, in 1971, the votes of African countries were instrumental in winning the PRC control of China’s seat in the UN General Assembly and Security Council – displacing representatives from Chinese nationalist forces, who had been defeated in the civil war.
In 1971 after the PRC received 34 per cent of UN votes from African countries, Mao Zedong was quoted to saying the following:
“It is our African brothers who have carried us into the UN.”
The Chatham House article further remarks that in 1999 China created its ‘Going Out’ strategy, which encouraged Chinese companies to invest beyond China.
The strategy was a statement of China’s growing economic might and created a new wave of Chinese engagement in Africa. It was also an important source of employment for Chinese citizens working on new infrastructure projects.
In November 2003 the first tri-annual Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit was held in Beijing. FOCAC was created to improve cooperation between China and African states and signalled China’s growing strategic initiative in Africa.
The Institute of West-Asian and African Studies demonstrates how China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by President Xi Jinping, is an important platform for China’s foreign cooperation in the new era.
The initiative, underpinned by win-win cooperation, aims to provide diversified options and impetus for world development through cooperation involving a wider range of countries. It has drawn on the experience of China-Africa cooperation and embodies the new international relations proposed by the Chinese government.
The BRI is an exemplary programme of Africa’s independent development to improve its market-oriented practice and serves to increase African capacity and commerce, reduce the burdens of poverty, and at the same time, deepen China-Africa cooperation.
A research report by The Institute of West-Asian and African Studies explains how since the end of the World War II, developing countries have been exploring ways to realize national prosperity, hasten social and economic development and improve people’s welfare. For various reasons, however, poverty alleviation efforts have achieved different results. On the one hand, some developing countries like China have successfully reduced their impoverished population and become important contributors to the global poverty relief effort; on the other hand, the African Continent, a place where most developing countries are located, is still struggling to lift people out of poverty.
At present, China-Africa poverty alleviation cooperation has established solid foundations as can be shown in strong political will and strategic consensus in poverty reduction serving bilateral common interests; the commonality in the basic features of poverty in China and Africa serving as the intrinsic driving force for poverty reduction cooperation; and increasing cooperation opportunities serving as external momentum.
Programme Director,
As we witness the events of competition and conflict unfold around the world, it is of utmost importance that the close bilateral relations between Africa and the People’s Republic of China remain as an enduring friendship of international solidarity and cooperation, largely driven by mutual interests for the betterment of humanity.
China is a unique exemplar of how the power of a nation’s will to improve the lives of its people, can truly transform the lived-experience of a large number of people who had suffered under circumstances of poverty. There is immense wisdom and guidance in this collective determination for the sake of humanity.
May the 12TH MEETING OF THE CHINA AND AFRICA THINK TANKS FORUM and the work of the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), bring new possibilities for China and Africa to take to heart these lessons and provide dignity and prosperity for all people.
Thank you.
