Promoting the China-Ecuador strategic partnership to a new level (Ambassador's Essay: Promoting the Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind)
2024-08-26
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This article is reproduced from [People's Daily Online];
Eritrea is an important country in the Horn of Africa, known as the "Pearl of the Red Sea". Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, is located at the northernmost tip of the East African Plateau, more than 2,300 meters above sea level. It is one of the highest capitals in Africa and is known as the "City in the Clouds". Asmara's modernist architecture has been listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The unique architecture, clean and wide streets, and upright and towering palm trees tell the unique history and culture of this country.
China and Eritrea have a profound traditional friendship. The profound friendship between the two countries stems from similar historical experiences, respect for sovereignty and independence, and the value of jointly promoting world peace and development. Eritrea established diplomatic relations with China at the ambassadorial level on the day of its founding. Over the past 30 years, the two countries have maintained strong political mutual trust and increasingly close cooperation. In 2022, President Xi Jinping and Eritrean President Isaias decided to upgrade China-Eritrea relations to a strategic partnership, injecting new and strong impetus into the deepening of cooperation in various fields between the two countries. In 2023, President Xi Jinping held talks with President Isaias, who was on a state visit to China, and exchanged in-depth views on further deepening bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern, reaching many important consensuses and drawing a new blueprint for the future development of bilateral relations.
In recent years, the development of China-Eritrea relations has entered the fast lane. In 2021, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on jointly building the "Belt and Road". In 2023, the bilateral trade volume will be nearly US$500 million. China and Eritrea have promoted mutually beneficial cooperation and achieved common development through the frameworks and platforms such as the "Belt and Road" initiative and the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. In the more than three months since I became the Chinese Ambassador to Eritrea, I have welcomed the arrival of the 17th Chinese Medical Aid Team to Eritrea, participated in the tree planting activities of the China-Eritrea Friendship Forest, and visited power stations and other projects built by Chinese companies... Wherever I went, I deeply felt the deep friendship between the peoples of China and Eritrea, and felt that the practical cooperation between the two countries in various fields has been continuously deepened, and I am full of confidence in the bright future of China-Eritrea friendship.
I was deeply impressed by the hospitality and friendliness of the Eritrean people. When walking on the street, there are always local people who greet me. At the 2024 Eritrean Cultural Festival, I felt that the locals cherish peace and tranquility and tolerate multiculturalism. In the face of the current international situation full of instability and uncertainty, developing good China-Eritrea relations is not only in the common and long-term interests of the two countries, but also of great significance to maintaining regional peace and international fairness and justice.
The 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit will be held in Beijing soon. This is a grand event of China-Africa cooperation and will surely inject new impetus into the development of China-Eritrea relations. China is willing to take this opportunity to implement the important consensus reached by the heads of state of China and Eritrea, deepen the close and friendly relations between the two countries' friends and comrades, push the China-Eritrea strategic partnership to a new level, and make new contributions to promoting the building of a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.
(The author is the Chinese Ambassador to Eritrea)
People's Daily (Page 03, August 26, 2024)
