By Cosmas Omegoh
China’s Consul General in Lagos, Chu Maoming, has said that his country will further develop ties with African countries in the coming years, citing China’s concerns in combating the current COVID-19 pandemic as one of the examples.
“China and Africa have jointly responded to the COVID-19 challenge through mutual assistance. When COVID-19 struck, African countries gave China firm support at a tough time during its fight against the virus, a support China will never forget.
“Chinese President Xi Jinping is deeply concerned about the evolving COVID-19 situation in Africa. He called for holding the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit, which was held last June, and he respectively spoke with 11 African leaders over the phone, which is a true testament to the special bond between China and Africa who reach out to each other during trying times.”
He expressed happiness that “the Chinese government has provided multiple batches of emergency medical supplies and vaccine donations to African countries and sent medical groups to 15 African countries.
“Chinese hospitals have been paired up with 43 hospitals in 38 African countries, and China has trained more than 20,000 African health workers. The construction of the African CDC headquarters was started ahead of plan.”
He assured that “China will continue to provide assistance of vaccines and medical supplies to African countries in need, facilitate vaccine procurement by African countries from China, and advance cooperation on joint vaccine production. China unequivocally supports African countries’ call to waive vaccine intellectual property rights. China is committed to eliminating the vaccine divide, and will speed up the construction of the African CDC headquarters to enhance Africa’s overall pandemic response capacity.”
He expressed satisfaction that “even with COVID-19, China has remained Africa’s largest trading partner for 12 consecutive years. Direct Chinese investment in Africa has been steady, reaching US$3 billion in 2020 alone. Many Chinese engineers and technicians chose to stay at their posts in Africa despite the pandemic; and over 1,100 cooperation projects have maintained operation, providing strong support to economic reopening in Africa. Solid progress has been made in China-Africa cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Forty-six African countries and the AU Commission have signed cooperation agreements with China under this initiative.”
He noted that “enhancing unity and cooperation with Africa has always been high on China’s diplomatic agenda. At this year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting to be held in Africa, a new blueprint for the future development of China- Africa relations will be drawn up. At this new starting point, China would like to take four steps to open up a new horizon for China-Africa cooperation: First, keeping pace with the times and making this year’s FOCAC meeting a success.
He further assured that China would follow the new development philosophy, foster a new development paradigm, and pursue high-quality development by staying committed to deepening reform and opening wider to the world.
He said together with Africa, China would make full use of opportunities created by China’s new development paradigm and the launch of the AfCFTA to conduct more high-standard collaboration projects and improve people’s well-being, adding that “China encourages Chinese companies to increase investment in Africa and do more trade with it, particularly importing quality African products.”
He said his country would release a report on its private sector investment in Africa in the second half of this year, and explore more possibilities to boost China-Africa cooperation.
“Together with Africa, China would safeguard the common interests of developing countries by jointly safeguarding the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, upholding the core role the United Nations plays in international affairs, resolutely rejecting attempts to create new bloc-confrontation, opposing power politics of all forms and manifestations, and practising true multilateralism.
“Let us continue to work with a common purpose, strive to build a China-Africa community with a shared future and write a new chapter in China-Africa friendship and cooperation,” he added.