China and Africa in the New Era: A Partnership of Equals

Panel 7 Belt and Road Initiative contributes to COVID containment

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, China-Africa cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative has shown great resilience and vitality which has helped anti-pandemic cooperation. Following the decisions of the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19, Chinese firms returned to Africa and resumed operations. More than 1,100 China-Africa joint programs have continued, and nearly 100,000 Chinese technicians and workers have remained at their posts. Under the combined efforts of China and African countries, a number of major projects have been completed or seen progress. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway and the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway have increased transport capacity in the face of adversity, serving as regional transport arteries and making an important contribution to local efforts to fight COVID-19, safeguard lives, and rebuild the economy.

3. Raising China-Africa Relations to a New Level

The key to the vitality of China-Africa relations is keeping abreast of the times and developing and innovating relationships. For more than half a century, at every critical juncture, the two sides have employed farsighted vision and always succeeded in finding new common ground and growth drivers. At this new historic starting point, under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and Xi Jinping Thought on Foreign Affairs, China will adhere to the principles of sincerity, affinity, good faith and practical results, uphold the values of shared interests and the greater good, and work together with African countries to advance high-quality cooperation and build a China-Africa community of shared future.

－Laying a solid foundation for friendship and raising mutual political trust to a new level. China and Africa will maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges, expand friendly cooperation between political parties, legislative bodies, political advisory bodies, and local governments of the two sides. They will share governance ideas and development experience, and reinforce strategic communication and mutual trust. They will give full play to the positive role of think tanks, media, institutions of higher learning and nongovernmental organizations, create a new model of multidimensional, multilevel and all-around cultural exchanges, strengthen people-to-people connectivity, and reinforce the traditional unbreakable China-Africa friendship.

－Combating COVID-19 and building a China-Africa community of health for all. China will continue to provide anti-pandemic assistance to African countries, share its experience in coordinating routine epidemic prevention and control with social and economic development, and speed up cooperation with Africa on vaccines. China-Africa health cooperation is not a short-term measure, but a long-term and farsighted strategy. It focuses on assisting Africa to improve its public health system and its capacity for controlling and preventing major communicable diseases, so as to promote a China-Africa community of health for all in the new era.

－Boosting common development and nurturing new drivers for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. As China and Africa enter their new stages of development, the advantages of their complementarity have become more obvious and their mutually beneficial cooperation is marked by higher quality, greater impact, and brighter prospects. The two sides will actively support their respective businesses to tap cooperation potential, nurture new growth drivers such as e-commerce, 5G network and green economy, and expand cooperation in future-oriented key fields. They will support the Global Development Initiative and a global community of shared development, so as to achieve high-quality and sustainable common development to the benefit of the Chinese and African peoples.

－Promoting closer international cooperation to establish a fairer and more equitable international order. China and Africa are important forces in safeguarding the common interests of developing countries and in promoting world peace and development. The two sides will further strengthen strategic communication and coordination on international affairs, and firmly safeguard the democratization of international relations. They will make concerted efforts to tackle common challenges facing humanity by fighting epidemics, alleviating poverty, combating terrorism, and dealing with climate change. They will work together to uphold true multilateralism, the common interests of developing countries, the international system with the United Nations at the core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.