Opening Ceremony of the Seminar Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)

Transcription

1 Opening Ceremony of the Seminar Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) This speech was delivered at a joint event hosted by the South African Institute of International Affairs and the Embassy of the People s Republic of China on 18 November 2010 Copyright: Xinhua News, China Making Concerted Efforts To Create A Beautiful Future for the New Type of China-Africa Strategic Partnership - Speech at the Opening Ceremony of the Seminar Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (18 November 2010, Pretoria) Xi Jinping, Vice-President of the PRC His Excellency Minister of Presidential Affairs Chabane, His Excellency Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim, Dear ministers and scholars, Ladies, gentlemen, and friends, I feel greatly honoured to have this opportunity to attend the opening ceremony of the seminar celebrating the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation today. I would like to begin by offering my warm congratulations to the opening of the seminar and extending my sincere greetings and heartfelt thanks to those friends who contributed their efforts to the promotion of China- South Africa relations and China-Africa relations. South Africa is a unique "rainbow nation" with natural beauty and cultural diversity. I was deeply impressed by the spirit of hard struggle demonstrated by the South African people in building their beautiful homeland when I first visited the country eight years ago. When I visit the country again eight years later, it gives me a new impression with its social stability, economic development, improved people's livelihood and active diplomacy. In particular, South Africa has maintained financial stability in spite of the severe test of the international financial crisis, successfully hosted the FIFA World Cup for the first time on the African continent, and successfully attracted 4.1 million visitors to its national pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. All these fully demonstrated the wisdom and strength of the South African people and showed that South Africa has become an important force propelling the development of Africa. During the 12 years since the establishment of China-South Africa diplomatic relations, bilateral relations have been upgraded from partnership to strategic partnership and now to comprehensive strategic partnership. The volume of bilateral trade has increased from US$1.6 billion to US$16 billion and the total

2 volume of bilateral investment has increased from US$70 million to US$7 billion, up 10 times and 100 times respectively. China has become South Africa's largest trading partner and export destination in the world. China and South Africa are important developing countries and have maintained good cooperation in international affairs, especially within the frameworks of the G20 and BASIC countries [Brazil, South Africa, India, and China] on climate change. On this trip to South Africa, I have had an in-depth exchange of views and reached a broad consensus with President Zuma, Deputy President Motlanthe and National Assembly Speaker Sisulu on the deepening of the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership and other issues of common concern. The visit was a complete success. China-South Africa relations epitomize the relations of friendship and cooperation between China and Africa. China-Africa relations have withstood the tests of changes in the international situation during the past half century and more and have now entered a new stage of comprehensive development. In particular, the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation 10 years ago has given an allround and substantial push to the development of the new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa. First, political mutual trust has been continuously enhanced. The decade since the establishment of the Forum was a decade which saw the most active high-level contacts and personnel exchanges between China and Africa. The previous ministerial meetings of the Forum turned out to be an important platform for collective dialogue between Chinese and African leaders and an effective mechanism for discussing matters of vital importance. From the time President Jiang Zemin proposed that China and Africa establish "a new type of partnership featuring long-term stability, equality and mutual benefit" at the first ministerial conference of the Forum in October 2000 to the time President Hu Jintao and African leaders unanimously agreed to establish and develop "a new-type of strategic partnership featuring political equality and mutual trust, win-win economic cooperation, cultural exchanges and mutual learning" at the Beijing Summit in November 2006, China-Africa relations have continuously risen to higher levels and become richer in content. The multi-level dialogue mechanism set up by the Forum has promoted the enhancement of mutual understanding, expanded consensus, and pushed forward the steady rise of the level of China-Africa relations. Second, pragmatic cooperation has advanced in an all-round way. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has built an all-round and three-dimensional system of cooperation with common development as its goal, the deepening of cooperation as its aim, and mutual benefit and win-win outcome as its principle. Over the past 10 years, China has substantially increased its aid, interest-free loans and preferential loans to Africa, and the fruits of cooperation have benefited both China and Africa.

3 The volume of bilateral trade increased from US$10.6 billion in 2000 to US$106.8 billion in 2008, with an annual growth rate of over 30 per cent. In the first three quarters of this year, the volume of bilateral trade reached US$93.7 billion, up 48 per cent. China's direct investment in Africa in 2009 amounted to US$1.44 billion, up nearly six times from China had cancelled more than 300 debts owed by 35 heavilyindebted poor countries and least developed countries in Africa in interest-free loans by the end of The two sides have also carried out pragmatic and efficient cooperation in such fields as infrastructure construction, energy, agriculture, finance, medicine and health, thus giving a positive and effective push to mutually-beneficial and win-win common development between China and Africa. Third, exchanges and mutual learning have become closer and closer. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation respects the cultural characteristics of China and Africa and has promoted the harmonious coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations. Over the past 10 years, cooperation between China and Africa in such areas as education, science and technology, culture, personnel exchanges and development of human resources has produced fruitful results. The China- Africa Youth Festival, Chinese/African Culture in Focus, the China-Africa Science and Technology Partnership Programme, the China-Africa Legal Forum, the China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Programme, and other cooperation projects have greatly enhanced mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and African peoples. South Africa has done particularly well in its implementation of the results of China-Africa humanistic exchanges and has so far established five Confucius Institutes in the country. China has also stepped up its training of African personnel and has trained up nearly 30,000 personnel in various fields so far. Over 12,000 African students were studying in China in They are invaluable talents in the building and development of Africa as well as an important force for promoting China-Africa exchanges and deepening China-Africa friendship. We are also happy to see that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has not only made important contributions to the African integration process but has also promoted cooperation between different countries and Africa and greatly raised Afr ica's international status. China's economic strength and overall national strength have continuously increased during the 61 years since the founding of the PRC, especially during the 32 years since the commencement of its reform and opening up drive. There is significant improvement in the material and spiritual life of its people and the living standards of the 1.3 billion Chinese people have developed from subsistence level to a general well-off level. However, China remains the world's largest developing country. Although China's gross domestic product is expected to become the world's second highest this year, its per-capita level is only equivalent to about one-tenth that of developed countries. According to UN standards, 150 million

4 Chinese people are still living below the poverty line. China is still faced with heavy tasks in persisting in reform and opening up, pushing forward scientific development, promoting social harmony, and continuing to improve the people's livelihood. China still needs to make prolonged and arduous efforts in order to achieve modernization and ensure that all its people live a secure, happy and prosperous life. China has always made development its first priority in governing and rejuvenating the country. It persists in scientific development, harmonious development and coordinated development internally and persists in peaceful development, open development and cooperative development externally. China unswervingly follows the path of peaceful development, developing itself by safeguarding world peace and safeguarding world peace through its own development. China also unswervingly adheres to the open strategy of mutual benefit and win-win outcome, actively "goes global" while continuing its efforts at "bringing in," doing everything in its power to help developing countries, especially African countries, enhance their ability to develop independently, strengthen South-South cooperation, and narrow the North-South gap while stepping up overseas investment and cooperation with foreign countries in various forms. China is currently Africa's largest trading partner and Africa is China's fourth largest investment destination. China's contributed to over 20 per cent of Africa's economic growth in recent years. The close economic ties between China and Africa have also enabled the African economy to achieve rapid recovery and development in coping with the international financial crisis. The benefits of China-Africa cooperation to Africa are tangible and felt by the governments and people of various African countries and have been given a fair and just appraisal by international public opinion. I have noticed that some scholars of developed countries who had been studying China-Africa relations for many years had come to the conclusion through field studies and empirical research that mutual benefit and win-win outcome is the gist of China-Africa relations and had been appealing for the international community to understand China's role in Africa realistically. We appreciate this kind of pragmatic attitude and rational voice. Strengthening unity and cooperation with the developing countries, including African countries, is the basic foothold and starting point of China's foreign policy. The trend of peace, development and cooperation of the contemporary world is conducive to the development of all countries on the whole. China and Africa together account for a third of the world's total population and form an important force in safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. China and Africa strengthening their unity and cooperation, deepening their traditional friendship, safeguarding their common interests, and making a joint effort to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals has a positive significance in enriching the content of South-South cooperation, promoting the democratization of international relations, and establishing a more equitable and rational international political and economic new order.

5 The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is poised to advance from the new historical starting point in the second decade of the 21st century. We are convinced that as long as China and Africa are of one heart and one mind and continue to treat and make plans for the Forum with an open mind, the scientific development concept and a positive and pragmatic attitude, we will be able help the Forum develop and grow further and promote the better and faster development of the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. First, strengthen strategic planning and make the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation a solid guarantee for the enhancement of political mutual trust between China and Africa. We must persist in mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual support and treating each other as equals, persist in planning and developing China-Africa relations from a strategic angle, maintain closer dialogue and consultation within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, strengthen coordination and collaboration on global issues of common concern, strive to increase the say and representation of developing countries in the international system, and propel both sides to achieve better development in the changing world situation. Second, deepen pragmatic cooperation and make the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation an important engine pushing forward the common development of China and Africa. We must pay attention to widening the scope of cooperation, raising the level of cooperation, expanding the scale of China-Africa trade, and optimizing the trade structure. We will strengthen cooperation with Africa in infrastructure construction and actively discuss multinational cooperation programmes. We will promote the export of African products to China, promote investment and technology transfers to Africa, increase job opportunities for the African people, and raise the independent development capabilities of the African nations in an effort to bring further benefits to the African people. China is ready to continue to increase its aid to Africa within its ability and optimize the structure of its aid to Africa, giving priority to education, agriculture, health, poverty relief and other livelihood areas as well as to energy conservation and environmental protection in its aid programmes. Third, maintain close humanistic exchanges, turning the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation into a bond for the deepening of China-Africa traditional friendship. We will expand intergovernmental exchanges and cooperation in such fields as education, science and technology, culture and tourism while maintaining closer links between political parties, local governments, mass organizations, academic institutions, and news media. While deepening cooperation, greater attention will be paid to the strengthening of humanistic exchanges and the consolidation of the social foundation of China-Africa friendship.

6 Fourth, strengthen the building of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and make the Forum further become an efficient and mature platform for cooperation. We must properly tackle new problems and new challenges emerging in the second decade of the 21st century in the light of the new situation and new characteristics of the international situation and the development of China-Africa relations, and continuously explore new ideas and ways to develop the Forum. We must make innovations in the Forum's development concept and forms of cooperation, fully bring into play the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the African members of the Forum, strengthen cooperation with the African Union and the African sub-regional organizations, and actively explore and unfold cooperation with various parties of the international community in order to continuously increase the Forum's rallying power and influence. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation involves 50 countries, including China and the African nations, and over 2 billion people. Promoting the health y, steady and smooth development of the Forum is the common responsibility of China and Africa. China appreciates the positive efforts made by African countries in promoting the continuous improvement of the Forum's mechanism and pushing forward the implementation of the results achieved by the Forum. As a big and influential country in Africa, South Africa has all along attached importance to and supported the development of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. South Africa's bid to host the Forum's sixth ministerial conference is another important manifestation of its support for the Forum's development. China welcomes this move. China is ready to make a joint effort with member nations of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, including South Africa, to create a beautiful future for the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership. Lastly, I wish the seminar marking the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation complete success! Thank you.