Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, September 5,initiated China-Africa joint modernization characterized by six features. He made the remarks while delivering the keynote address at the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). With the keywords “equitable”, “win-win”, “put people first”, “inclusiveness”, “eco-friendly” and “peace”, President Xi vowed to “set off a wave of modernization in the Global South.” “We always empathize with and support each other, setting a stellar example of a new type of international relations,” Xi said. ALSO READ: 7 major ‘contract-talks’ investors seek from China-Africa summit The 2024 Beijing Summit was held to celebrate China-Africa friendship in the new era. More than 50 African leaders attended the opening ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. The development of China-Africa relations contributed to the rise of developing countries to pursue a more balanced international order. It had been a tradition for 34 years that the Chinese Foreign Minister paid visits to Africa at the beginning of each year. ALSO READ What to expect at upcoming China-Africa cooperation summit Xi said China will build a model with Africa for the delivery of the Global Development Initiative, by deepening collaborations in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment. A Gathering of the Global South The FOCAC’s 2024 Beijing Summit was considered as a platform to discuss cooperation between developing nations. Senegalese Foreign Minister Yassine Fall, also co-chair of the FOCAC’s ministerial conference, said China-Africa cooperation “has become a unique example of South-South cooperation.” The FOCAC mechanism, consisting of members including China and 53 African nations, along with the African Union, is the cornerstone of the ties among developing countries. It all started in 2000 when a ministerial conference was held in Lusaka, Zambia. In 2006, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit decided to establish a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. In 2015, the Johannesburg Summit decided to build a China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. In the 2018 Beijing Summit, the two sides agreed to build an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future, raising the ties to a new level. President Xi announced that overall positioning of China-Africa relations upgraded to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era. “Over the past 24 years, especially in the new era, China has advanced forward hand-in-hand with our African brothers and sisters in the spirit of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith,” Xi said. High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation The Belt and Road Initiative is on the agenda at this year’s FOCAC. Since 2013, when President Xi first proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, China built more than 6,000 kilometers of railways, and 6,000 kilometers of highways in Africa. As the Initiative entered its second decade, Beijing advocated “small and beautiful projects,” or small and smart projects, advancing cooperation from major infrastructure construction to sustainable development plans. Youth exchange is one of the emerging fields for cooperation. Since the establishment of FOCAC, China has provided nearly 20,000 government scholarships to African countries and trained more than 10,000 short-term trainees. In 2018, the Rwandan government and Chinese tech giant Alibaba agreed to build an Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP), aiming at promoting public-private dialogue to help small and medium-sized enterprises participate in cross-border electronic trade. The project allowed Rwandan students to study global trade and cross-border commerce in China’s Hangzhou, Alibaba’s headquarters, supporting Rwanda in advancing e-commerce, tourism, and e-payment. Currently, 52 African countries and the African Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding with China on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative. Paving Ways to Advance Modernization The close ties between China and African nations are the backbone for the implementation of multiple development strategies, between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, AU Agenda 2063, and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As the world is facing challenges with rising hegemony and power politics, wars, and famine, China is committed to working with Africa to address the emerging problems. “On the path to modernization, no one, and no country, should be left behind,” Xi vowed to rally the more than 2.8 billion Chinese and African people into a powerful force on our shared path toward modernization. The FOCAC’s 2024 Beijing summit provided a platform for member nations to increase the scope of cooperation and jointly safeguard international equality and justice. (Zhao Yunfei is a journalist for CGTN.)
