grand diplomacy | the forum on china-africa cooperation summit will open, with four major topics highlighting the common concerns and expectations of china and africa
2024-09-04
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as china-africa cooperation becomes increasingly close, the 2024 forum on china-africa cooperation summit will be held in beijing from september 4 to 6. chinese and african leaders will discuss friendship, cooperation and the future around the theme of "jointly promoting modernization and building a high-level china-africa community with a shared future". this summit is also the largest home diplomacy held by china in recent years with the most foreign leaders attending.
on september 2, 2024, the 2024 forum on china-africa cooperation summit will be held soon, and many elements of landscape are arranged on the streets of beijing. visual china photo
on september 2, the "china-africa moment" officially began. on that day, president xi jinping held intensive bilateral meetings with visiting african leaders.
following the 2018 beijing summit of the forum on china-africa cooperation, chinese and african leaders met again in china. four high-level meetings will be held in parallel during this summit, with the topics of "governance of the country", "industrialization and agricultural modernization", "peace and security" and "high-quality joint construction of the belt and road". these four major topics reflect the common concerns and expectations of china and africa for modernization development, and are also the key directions for the construction of the forum on china-africa cooperation in the new era.
in the 24 years since its establishment, the forum on china-africa cooperation has continued to mature and improve, focusing on achieving common prosperity and sustainable development for the chinese and african peoples, and has become a banner for international cooperation with africa and south-south cooperation. 52 african countries and the african union commission signed a cooperation document on jointly building the "belt and road" with china, and china's initiative has been deeply connected with africa's development strategy.
china-africa trade is resilient and free of "traps"
according to a report by reference news on september 1, citing africa news network, climate and energy are expected to be important topics in the china-africa talks, and attention will also be paid to digital and technological cooperation to narrow the digital divide facing africa.
according to the 2024 edition of the blue book "china-africa development report on the joint construction of the belt and road initiative" released on august 29, china has been africa's largest trading partner for 15 consecutive years. as of the end of last year, china's direct investment in africa exceeded us$40 billion. in the first seven months of this year, china's imports and exports to africa amounted to 1.19 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%. in 2023, china-africa trade volume reached a historical peak of us$282.1 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.5%, demonstrating the strong resilience of china-africa trade.
according to reports from multiple local african media, people from all walks of life in africa said that the upcoming china-africa cooperation forum summit will be an important opportunity to deepen cooperation, and they look forward to the two sides continuously expanding new areas of cooperation and bringing more development opportunities to africa.
on july 19, 2022, at yantai port in shandong province, a quay crane was loading engineering vehicles for export to africa on a china-africa liner. visual china data map
the nigerian newspaper the nation reported that charles udeogalanya, chairman of the nigerian international business association and a senior media figure, said that african leaders should take advantage of the upcoming 2024 forum on china-africa cooperation summit to establish strong economic cooperation with china. agence france-presse quoted policy analysts as saying that "african countries hope to use the opportunity of visiting china to achieve economic growth in their own countries."
however, for some time, some western countries and western media have often used the "debt trap theory" and "overcapacity theory" to accuse and discredit china-africa cooperation. in this regard, paul frimpong, executive director of the ghana-china policy advisory center, said in an interview with the media, "no african country has fallen into a debt crisis because of china. we must oppose this narrative."
in recent years, a large number of chinese companies have cooperated with local african governments and enterprises to vigorously develop renewable energy such as hydropower, wind power, and photovoltaics, becoming one of africa's main partners in green energy development. in the first seven months of this year, china's exports of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, and photovoltaic products to africa increased significantly by 291%, 109%, and 57% year-on-year.
according to the south china morning post, africa is becoming another emerging market for chinese electric car companies. in june this year, nezha auto opened its first african store in kenya and plans to sell its electric cars to 20 african countries. in the same month, xiaopeng motors announced that the p7 and g9 cars would enter egypt at the end of june. prior to this, chinese car companies such as byd, geely, dongfeng, and great wall have entered african countries such as morocco and south africa to take the lead in layout.
as europe and the united states set up many barriers to china's new energy industry chain, morocco, located in north africa, is becoming a key gateway for chinese new energy companies to invest overseas. in july this year, the first china-morocco new energy conference was held in casablanca, morocco. according to a report by global times on july 29, chinese ambassador to morocco li changlin said earlier that "chinese companies have invested heavily in morocco's renewable energy, new energy vehicle batteries and other fields, which has played a positive role in promoting morocco's energy transformation and the development of the automotive industry."
on september 2, li yonghong, deputy director of the ministry of ecology and environment's international cooperation and exchange center, also stated at the first briefing of this year's forum on china-africa cooperation summit that china is willing to continue to strengthen communication and coordination with morocco and looks forward to working with morocco to promote the full and effective implementation of the paris agreement and make positive contributions to global economic and climate change.
the global south is working together
"china and africa have always been a community with a shared future. faced with a world full of changes and turmoil, china and africa must strengthen unity and cooperation more than ever before." recently, president xi jinping wrote back to scholars from 50 african countries, encouraging them to continue to provide intellectual support for building a high-level china-africa community with a shared future and safeguarding the common interests of the "global south".
multilateralism is of vital importance to african countries and requires the support and participation of all parties. the forum on china-africa cooperation has played a key role in enhancing africa's international status. this has not only promoted the deepening of china-africa relations, but also triggered a wave of other countries establishing government dialogue mechanisms with africa.
in promoting the reform of the global governance system and international order, china and africa have always been important partners. the people's daily pointed out in an article that from fully supporting south africa to host the "brics+" dialogue between brics and african leaders, to being the first to clearly express support for the african union to become a formal member of the g20, to china and africa jointly launching the "supporting africa's development partnership initiative" at the un security council, china has always firmly supported african countries to become an important pole of world political, economic and civilizational development.
according to a report by the ethiopian news agency on september 1, ethiopian experts stressed that as developing countries facing similar opportunities and challenges, china and african countries have cultivated a spirit of cooperation and mutual assistance through south-south cooperation.
zambian president hichilema also said that china's development has driven progress in the "global south" countries, enhanced the representativeness and voice of the "global south" countries in international affairs, and promoted the development of the international order in a more just and reasonable direction.
thepaper.cn reporter yang wenqin
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