BEIJING, Sept. 04, (Xinhua) – President Xi
Jinping on Monday announced a raft of renewed measures to elevate China-Africa
cooperation as more than 50 African leaders gathered in central Beijing for a
major event.
“We are so delighted to have all of you
with us,” Xi said as he opened the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), an occasion he described as the reunion of
the China-Africa big family.
Xi called for efforts to forge an even
stronger China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership.
With the next three years in sight, he put
forward eight initiatives and backed it up with a pledge of financing amounting
to 60 billion U.S. dollars.
Among the measures are the import of more
non-resource products from Africa, increased corporate investment, more direct
flights, an environmental cooperation center, an African studies institute, and
security programs fighting pirates and terrorists.
Calling Africa a “land of great
promise” and a continent “full of hope,” Xi said no one can hold
back the Chinese people or the African people as they march toward
rejuvenation.
EIGHT INITIATIVES
The summit is the third of its kind since
FOCAC was set up 18 years ago.
Liu Guijin, a veteran diplomat who once served
as the first special representative of the Chinese government on African
affairs, said the initiatives were a follow-up to the 10 cooperation plans
announced at the last summit in 2015.
“Our policies have been very consistent.
We build on past success and move ahead,” Liu said.
On industrial promotion, Xi said a
China-Africa economic and trade expo will be held in China. A number of
economic and trade cooperation zones in Africa will be built or upgraded.
“We encourage Chinese companies to make
at least 10 billion U.S. dollars of investment in Africa in the next three
years,” he said.
Zhu Gongshan, chairman of Chinese energy
company GCL Group, said he would like to scale up investment in Africa,
especially to tap into the huge market potential of solar-power generation. His
company had already set foot in Ethiopia and Djibouti.
“The outlook is good. We as business
people have high hopes and are more willing to invest,” he said.
Observers said as a strength of Chinese
support, infrastructure development in Africa will continue to benefit from
concessional loans and credit lines.
Xi specifically pledged support for Chinese
companies that adopt an investment-construction-operation model in
infrastructure projects.
He said China will work with Africa to
undertake a number of key connectivity projects. That will increase landmark
infrastructure rising up across the continent over the past few years, such as
the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya and the Maputo Cross-sea
Bridge in Mozambique.
On trade, Xi said China has decided to
increase imports, particularly non-resource products, from Africa, support the
African Continental Free Trade Area, and hold free trade talks with interested
countries and regions.
Xi’s initiatives also cover capacity building,
health care, people-to-people exchange, and peace and security.
Environmental protection also featured high on
the agenda.
Xi said 50 aid projects will be undertaken on
green development and ecological and environmental protection in Africa, with a
focus on tackling climate change, marine cooperation, desertification
prevention and control, and wildlife protection.
“The speech highlighted what we are all
doing now,” said Wang Qingfeng, director of the Nairobi-based Sino-African
Joint Research Center with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Since 2013, the center has put forward more
than 45 joint research programs including biodiversity investigation,
pathogenic microorganism detection, geographic science, and remote sensing.
Kembabazi Barbara Gamukama, a Ugandan student
in Beijing, said she was motivated by Xi’s speech too.
“China will import more from Africa. That
means Uganda can export more coffee, and there are opportunities for Uganda’s
young people looking for jobs,” she said.
FIVE-NO APPROACH
Despite the geographical distance between
them, China and Africa enjoy a friendship that has stood the test of time.
Profound friendships were first forged among
the founding fathers of China and African countries in the middle of last
century. Signature aid projects like the Tanzania-Zambia Railway in the 1970s
brought the people closer.
Xi expounded at the summit that China follows
a “five-no” approach in its relations with Africa: no interference in
African countries’ pursuit of development paths that fit their national
conditions; no interference in their internal affairs; no imposition of China’s
will on them; no attachment of political strings to assistance; and no seeking
of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation.
“China follows the principle of giving
more and taking less, giving before taking and giving without asking for
return,” Xi said.
A sign of the China-Africa family getting
closer can be seen by the adding of new FOCAC members. All 53 African countries
with diplomatic ties with China are now members.
Xi led a round of loud applause on Monday as
he welcomed the Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, and Burkina Faso as the three
new members.
“Africa has chosen China,” Burkina
Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kabore told Xinhua before he flew to
Beijing. “It is our choice and we stick to that.”
FROM AFRICA TO WORLD
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who serves as
the rotating chairperson of the African Union for 2018, said the summit comes
at the right time as globalization faces headwinds.
Talking to reporters before the summit, Kagame
said there is a “need for cooperation more than ever” as some
countries make clear their intentions to serve themselves first over other
countries.
Xi reiterated China’s stance to safeguard an
open world economy and the multilateral trade system, rejecting protectionism
and unilateralism.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said
China’s cooperation with Africa is fundamental for Africa’s success, which
underpins the success of the world in development and peace.
China and Africa are home to roughly 2.6
billion people, making up 35 percent of the world’s population.
Xi said China and Africa have long formed a
community with a shared future and will now turn it into a pacesetter for
building such a community for humanity.
“Our goal is to make the world a place of
peace and stability and life happier and more fulfilling for all,” Xi
said.
GNA