BUILDING THE NEW TYPE OF CHINA-AFRICA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Your Excellency President Mohammed Hosni Mubarak, Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Your Excellency Mr. Jean Ping, Chairperson of the AU Commission, Your Excellencies Heads of Delegation, Ministers and Ambassadors, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am delighted to join you in the beautiful coastal city of Sharm El Sheikh on the occasion of the 4th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). This conference gives us the opportunity to renew friendship and explore ways to further cooperation. As the Premier of the co-chair country of the conference, I would like to extend, on behalf of the Chinese government, a warm welcome to all the participants and express sincere thanks to the government of Egypt for the thoughtful preparations and arrangements it has made for the conference.

Achievements

Since its founding nine years ago, FOCAC has played a major role in guiding and promoting the development of China-Africa relations and become a bridge of friendship and a platform of cooperation between China and Africa. In the three years since the Beijing Summit in particular, the two sides have worked together to build the new type of strategic partnership featuring political equality and mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchanges. Together, we have opened a new chapter in China-Africa cooperation.

World Envy

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, The rapidly growing relations and cooperation between China and Africa have attracted the world’s attention in recent years. I would like to point out that it was not just a few years ago that China suddenly started its presence in Africa or Africa started its support for China. As early as in the 1950s and ’60s, China and Africa fought shoulder to shoulder in the historic struggle against imperialism, colonialism and hegemony and worked side by side in the hard endeavor to revive our respective national economies. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway, the Chinese medical teams and the young Chinese volunteers in Africa are vivid examples of China’s selfless assistance to this continent, while Africa’s tremendous effort in helping restore China’s seat in the United Nations, the successful Beijing Olympic torch relay in Africa and Africa’s generous donations to the victims of the Wenchuan earthquake in China give full expression to the friendship of the African people toward the Chinese people. The Chinese government and people respect the right of African countries to independently choose their social systems and support the African people in exploring development paths that suit their national conditions. We firmly believe that Africa is fully capable of solving its own problems in an African way. The economic cooperation and trade between China and Africa are based on mutual benefit, win-win progress, openness and transparency. China has never attached any political strings to its support and assistance to Africa, and nor will it do so in the future. China welcomes the active involvement of other countries and international organizations in Africa’s development so that we can jointly promote peace, development and progress in Africa.

The Impact of China-Africa Partnership

China-Africa relations have withstood the test of international vicissitudes and maintained the momentum of robust growth. Our relationship is based on mutual support, particularly during times of adversity. It is guided by the core principle of mutual respect and equality. It is driven by our joint endeavor to pursue mutually-beneficial cooperation and common development. The world today is undergoing unprecedented changes and adjustments. We are all developing countries and face both rare historic opportunities for faster development and complex global challenges. We should enhance mutually beneficial cooperation. Cooperation between us will enable us to bring out our respective strengths and achieve common development. Cooperation between us will encourage the international community to pay greater attention to Africa and help it attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at an early date. Cooperation between us will catalyze South-South cooperation and enhance the collective standing of developing countries in the international political and economic architecture. Cooperation between us will promote democracy in international relations and justice in the international order and contribute to the effort of building a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.

Challenges Facing African Countries

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, Like other parts of the world, Africa is faced with various global challenges, including the financial crisis and climate change. Your task of meeting the MDGs has been made more difficult by the financial market volatility, sharp economic slowdown, drastic decline in foreign capital and the turmoil in some countries and regions in Africa. And your effort to achieve sustainable development has been seriously threatened by the frequent floods and droughts, the spread of desertification, extinction of some species, drop in food production and environmental degradation caused by climate change.

Africa is home to one seventh of the world’s population and has more developing countries than any other continent. Africa’s development is indispensable to development of the world economy. As a true and tested friend, China fully understands the difficulties and challenges facing Africa. We call upon the international community to have a greater sense of urgency and take more concrete steps to support Africa’s development. First, the international community should not waver in its resolve or weaken its effort to help Africa meet the MDGs. It should take credible steps to honor the commitment of assistance to Africa and actively foster an enabling external environment of international economy, trade and finance. Second, the international community should have a keen appreciation of African countries’ pressing need for stronger capacity in adapting to climate change, understand and support their legitimate concerns and demands, and help them better meet the climate challenge in the larger context of enhancing Africa’ s ability for achieving sustainable development. Such a holistic approach will help Africa realize all-round and balanced development. Third, the international community should show more understanding of the special difficulties facing Africa in addressing such global issues as food security, energy security and epidemic diseases, and render them greater support and assistance.

The Strategic Thrust

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, Under the new circumstances, China is ready to deepen practical cooperation with African countries in diverse areas and push forward in an all-round way the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. I wish to make, in this connection, the following proposals:

First, strengthen strategic coordination to uphold common interests. The two sides should maintain high-level exchanges, engage in closer political dialogue and consultations and step up coordination and cooperation on major global issues of mutual interest, so as to increase the voice and representation of developing countries in the international system and jointly build a more just and reasonable international political and economic order. China will, as always, speak up for Africa and safeguard the interests of African countries on international occasions. We will make greater effort to share strategies and experience with African countries in meeting global challenges and help them enhance capacities and achieve self-development.

Second, meet the MDGs and improve the livelihood of the African people. Economic development, poverty eradication and improvement of people’s lives are top priorities for African countries. China will continue to increase assistance to Africa and reduce or cancel debts owed by African countries within the realm of its capabilities. We will restructure our assistance programs to better meet the needs on the ground. We will put more emphasis on agriculture, education, health, poverty reduction and clean drinking water and other areas that are vital to people’s well-being when providing assistance, and help Africa attain the MDGs at an early date.

Third, enhance economic cooperation and trade to realize mutual benefit and win-win progress. The strong economic complementarity between China and Africa offers us broad prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation. We should work hard to increase trade, speedily reverse the trade downturn since the beginning of this year and increase export of African goods to China. China will encourage more enterprises to invest in Africa and ask them to shoulder more social responsibilities and live in amity with the local people. We will combine economic cooperation and trade with technology transfer and take active steps to train technical and managerial personnel for African countries.

Fourth, promote people-to-people exchanges to solidify China-Africa friendship. Both China and Africa have a rich and splendid culture. The two sides should step up cultural exchanges and mutual learning, encourage the organization of culture festivals, art exhibitions and sports events, and support closer interactions among non- governmental organizations, news media and academic institutions. China will continue to support Africa in developing education, health, science and technology and other social programs. We welcome African countries to participate in the Shanghai World Expo to showcase Africa’s development achievements in various fields.

Fifth, expand areas of cooperation and advance FOCAC institutional building. China is willing to increase involvement in the settlement of issues concerning peace and security in Africa, provide more support to African integration and expand cooperation with sub-regional organizations in Africa. We will work with you to promote FOCAC institutional building, strengthen cooperation between the functional departments of the two sides within the FOCAC framework, and enhance and expand FOCAC’s role in promoting and guiding China-Africa relations.

Practical Steps for Mutual Development

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, The Chinese people cherish sincere friendship towards the African people, and China’s support to Africa’s development is concrete and real. Whatever change may take place in the world, our friendship with Africa will not change, our commitment to deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and achieving common development with Africa will not change, and our policy of supporting Africa’s economic and social development will not change. During the next three years, the Chinese government will take the following eight new measures to strengthen China-Africa cooperation:

First, we propose to establish a China-Africa partnership in addressing climate change. We will hold senior officials’ consultations with African countries from time to time, and enhance cooperation on satellite weather monitoring, development and utilization of new energy sources, prevention and control of desertification and urban environmental protection. We have decided to build 100 clean energy projects for Africa covering solar power, bio-gas and small hydro-power.

Second, we will enhance cooperation with Africa in science and technology. We propose to launch a China-Africa science and technology partnership, under which we will carry out 100 joint demonstration projects on scientific and technological research, receive 100 African postdoctoral fellows to conduct scientific research in China and assist them in going back and serving their home countries.

Third, we will help Africa build up financing capacity. We will provide 10 billion U.S. dollars in concessional loans to African countries, and support Chinese financial institutions in setting up a 1 billion U.S. dollar special loan for small and medium-sized African businesses. For the heavily indebted poor countries and least developed countries in Africa having diplomatic relations with China, we will cancel their debts associated with interest-free government loans due to mature by the end of 2009.

Fourth, we will further open up China’s market to African products. We will phase in zero-tariff treatment to 95 percent of the products from the least developed African countries having diplomatic relations with China, starting with 60 percent of the products within 2010.

Fifth, we will further enhance cooperation with Africa in agriculture. We will increase the number of agricultural technology demonstration centers built by China in Africa to 20, send 50 agricultural technology teams to Africa and train 2,000 agricultural technology personnel for Africa, in order to help strengthen Africa’s ability to ensure food security.

Sixth, we will deepen cooperation in medical care and health. We will provide medical equipments and anti-malaria materials worth 500 million Yuan to the 30 hospitals and 30 malaria prevention and treatment centers built by China and train 3,000 doctors and nurses for Africa.

Seventh, we will enhance cooperation in human resources development and education. We will build 50 China-Africa friendship schools and train 1,500 school principals and teachers for African countries. By 2012, we will increase the number of Chinese government scholarships to Africa to 5,500. And we will train a total of 20,000 professionals of various fields for Africa over the next three years.

Eighth, we will expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges. We propose to launch a China-Africa joint research and exchange program, which will enable scholars and think tanks to have more exchanges and cooperation, share development experience, and provide intellectual support for formulating better cooperation policies by the two sides.

Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Friends, Egypt was the first African country to enter into diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Egypt 53 years ago opened a new era in China-Africa relations. Today, Egypt is playing host to the 4th FOCAC Ministerial Conference, which will mark a new starting point in China-Africa relations. There is an African proverb which says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” There is also a Chinese saying that goes, “As distance can test a horse’s strength, so time can reveal a person’s heart.” I am convinced that as long as China and Africa go hand in hand with an enterprising spirit and cooperate on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, we will seize opportunities and overcome challenges to take the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership to a new level, and make China-Africa friendship and cooperation even more fruitful.

In conclusion, I wish the 4th FOCAC Ministerial Conference a crowning success!

By Wen Jiabao

(Wen Jiabao is the Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China. This Speech was delivered at the Opening Ceremony of the 4th Ministerial Conference of The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Egypt on 08 November 2009. Subheadings were added by Mayihlome Editorial for ease of reference)

Share

7 thoughts on “BUILDING THE NEW TYPE OF CHINA-AFRICA STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

  1. The Chinese-Africa partnership in my point of view is good as it offers alternative to the westwern style which is often aid-based and not partnership. There are however genuine issues and concerns to the it. In my point of view, Africa should deal with China as one economic bloc and eschew from the current system where individual countries enter into trade pacts with China. I believe we have unique opportunity as a continent to define our terms and conditions of dealing with China. That way, we gain as much as they do. African countries must know that, there is no free lunch anywhere. I believe we can make the best with China-Africa partnership if we can sit,analyse, plan into the long term and define our terms of engagement.

    1. True, partnership with China and relations with other world regional blocks would work better if we are a single united state. At this summit China spoke as one but the African voice was scattered. We need a common approach, policy and programme in such engagements. However in the meantime it is a positive thing that slowly Africa is cutting the umbilical cord with imperialism which is responsible for Africa’s underdevelopment.

      1. Well said. I’m not even talking about United States of Africa here my brother hulisani. I think in the meantime the various regional economic blocs such as ECOWAS, SADC etc, should come together as a continental bloc or as separate regional blocs to define terms of engagement with the Chinese. I’m afraid the Chinese are here to first pursue the supreme interest of China before any other consideration. I’m thinking that we may be fooled into believing that we’re punishing the West somehow by disengaging with them and instead engaging with China. Taking a glance back at our history,one realises that the West colonial master plan did not manifest itself readily to our people from the initial stages. It’s after a sense of friendship, trust and a level of commitment were attained before the lion within emerged from the sheep on the surface.If our leaders will show that they have the long term interest of Africa at heart by not committing the continent into short-sighted pacts and aggreements only for posterity to pay dearly in the future. We’ve been bitten before and I thought the lessons will strengthen our resolve to be on the path of vigilance. God bless Africa.

  2. i have heard some reactionary white supremacists claim that europeans did africans a favour by colonising them. they also have the gall and temerity to write this type of nonsensical stuff. the martinican intellectual and poet of negritude aime cesaise once said, no one colonises innocently. now sons and daughters of africa these are heroes you’ll hear about, anti colonialist heroes such as jacques rabemananjara of madasgascar and leon damas of guyana. is china animated purely by altruistic motives? if so why is china flooding our markets with cheap textile goods that ultimately depress prices of locally produced textiles thereby causing unemployment? china and oth er asian countries are also guilty of illegal human trafficking and gangsterism. isra el is also encouraging gangsterism through its spy agencies like mossad and shinbed (verify spelling) whose members terrorised south african citizens at jan smuts airport in kempton park by stripping them and searching them. jan smuts airport was supposed to be named after robert sobukwe who said in his 1959 inaugural speech that we should not be dictated to by either the east or the west. dr cheikh anta diop said africa should not be towed like a vessel by the eastern or western bloc and continued to say that africa must relate with all states on a perfectly equal footing. china falls under that category. we must be circumspect of china’s pretentious plans. we must not be afraid of being trail blazers especially on knowledge production and alternative theories such as for example aids and on our approach to china’s spreading its tentacles on the continent. is china animated by selfishness or altruism? i think china is motivated by egoism.

  3. It is fundamentally critical that Africa must stand as one in all engagements with the world if it wants to be heard and respected. Whether or not China intends to colonise Africa is for me a side issue. If China colonises us it will be with our consent. I use the word consent broadly. If you are being forced to do something you have the right to resist and revolt but if you choose to succumb (at last consenting) its your own problem and you must live with the consequences.
    The real issue for me is how Africa can, at this point, optimise partnership with China to advance the African agenda and isolate the West because i believe the West must be isolated if we want to breakdown imperialism and change the balance of power in the world. In my view there is no denying that compared to the West, China is a better associate. China offers Africa, scattered as it is, better trade, economic and development deals compared to what the West is offering. The movement away from imperialism to independence and self reliance requires us to identify strategic partners. We cannot isolate ourselves from everybody and think that we will become a prosperous nation. We cannot run away from the interdependece between regions of the world but we can shape the nature of such relationships. In my view no region can develop on its own to the exclusion of the rest of the world. So we simply have no choice but to choose friends. There is no room for island approach to development. We cannot do it single handedly. It is my view that China, given its development track-record, economic muscle, population size and political clout in multilateral forums, is a viable and suitable partner for Africa. If not China then who?
    It is merely by accident of history that we are Africans and find ourselves on this piece of the world rich in mineral wealth.In the same vein there are other forms of wealth that we do not posses and which lay in other parts of the world. This forces us to co-operate with other regions so that we can exchange and share resources for each other’s needs.
    Even if we boast enormous precious mineral deposits and other wealth, apart from own consuption, we need a broad market for such raw materials or end products thereof. Our cynical focus on China’s motives is unhelpful. Of course China is not Africa’s father Christmas and we cannot expect it to become one. It is advancing its own economic and development interests. China gets value from its relationship with Africa and we must ensure that we extract proportionate value as well. It is entirely up to us to determine the nature of our relationship with China…whether it will be one between equals or one of master and slave. If we become subservient, sentimental and unstrategic, China will take advantage of us. We must look out for ourselves. We must remain vigilant and strategic. It is survival of the fittest. We cant go out there and be cry babies.
    Apart from all of these, i believe China is a shining example of self reliance. They have defied their colonial history and produce everthing for their consumption and for export. They have also build a strong patriotism which is partly responsible for their success because they support their own. On the other hand, despite the abundance of raw materials on mother Africa, we depend on imperialsim for everything. This is what we must break and this is what we must learn from China. It is a positive thing.We cannot say because at some point in history we were ahead of world civilisation and a glorious people therefore we are entitled to greatness. We must work for our prosperity through and through and stop trying to reinvent history. If we sleep, we must expect to be trampled upon. Our focus should be to maximise mutual benefit in our partnership with China and any other region in the world. Let’s stay focused on strategic matters and put forward proposals on programmes that will ensure that we can improve the livelihood of our people.
    Lastly we must remember that our struggle is for equality and economic justice for the African people. It is not one for hegemony over other species of the human race or nations. We are not Nazis’.

    1. “It is entirely up to us to determine the nature of our relationship with China…whether it will be one between equals or one of master and slave. If we become subservient, sentimental and [un]strategical, China will take advantage of us”.

      This is exactly what I expect our leaders to understand. Thanks for educating me brother. Critically analyzing the path Africa is trailing today in her dealings with China, I find it hard to see the long term prospect. The quest for power can dilute all good intentions! It’s part of human nature. The earlier we started putting our heads together to device a masterplan that spell out our terms of engagement with Chinese, the better position we place posterity and africa’s future. In today’s politics, you cant trust anybody. Even heads of states of africa remember don’t trust themselves – how much more an outside force. Of course we need to have a partner, but we also need to know how that partnership should be. The good news is that africa-china trade relation is still at the teething stage and that means our leaders can still do something. God Bless Africa.

  4. I cannot trust a nation that eats anything that moves! from cats,dogs to pigs!

Comments are closed.