Year in which solidarity became clearer

The world benefits from China's blossoming relationship with Africa

Last year brought what might be called a new normal in the development of China-Africa relations. China upgraded the new strategic partnership with the continent to new levels through visits by top leaders, helped West African countries such as Liberia fight the Ebola epidemic and paid close attention to peace and security matters here. Promises made to the continent were fulfilled, strongly reinforcing the close ties between China and Africa

When President Xi Jinping visited Africa in April 2013 he was able to see and feel first-hand the depths of a relationship that he said was based on sincerity and friendship. Those two words not only epitomize the growth of the relationship in all areas, but are also a token of the principle the country will adhere to in its dealings with Africa.

Premier Li Keqiang made an eight-day trip to Africa in May last year and visited Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya. In his speech at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Li looked at growth plans for the next 50 years and proposed that China concentrate on projects in six areas: industry, finance, reducing poverty, protecting the environment, cultural exchanges and peace and security.

China, as Africa's largest trading partner five years in a row, has direct investment of more than $25 billion in Africa, bringing substantial benefits to those on both sides.

Last year as a result of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa the Chinese government provided West African countries with significant aid, including relief supplies, dispatched a team of medical staff and public health experts, urgently built an Ebola treatment center in Liberia and poured in more funds.

In terms of peace and security, the Chinese government continued to focus on the solution of regional hotspot issues in Africa and postwar reconstruction. By dispatching the first batch of 395 peacekeeping forces that engaged in work around the clock after they arrived in Mali, China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, has tried to play a more significant role in resolving conflicts in Africa. At the same time, the reopened Chinese embassy in Somalia has made a positive contribution to the postwar reconstruction of the country.

China's commitment has received recognition worldwide, especially in African countries. When they survey China-Africa relations they know full well how hollow the suggestion is in the West that China is practicing neocolonialism in Africa.

A story by the journalist Paul Frimpong in Ghana last February is one that represents their voices. It is evident that in its partnership with Western countries Africa gained little, Frimpong said.

However, that African countries have better survived the global economic crisis has largely been attributed to their shift to emerging markets such as China and India from their traditional trade partners of the US and European countries.

What's more, compared with the West, China has never attached any conditions to its assistance and support to Africa, which is always infrastructure that is related to local people's lives.

Frimpong has argued that contacts with China have in many ways saved Africa and sped up its diversified development. The "Beijing consensus" achieved between China and Africa is far more attractive to African countries than the other development mode put forward in the form of the "Washington consensus".

African countries will continue the mutually beneficial pattern and further develop and consolidate such new and promising trade relations with China in order to maintain development and growth, the article said.

That is no exaggeration. China's trade relations with Africa have gradually been switching from aid and trade to investment-driven collaboration. Encouraged by the Chinese government, Chinese companies invested more in infrastructure in Africa last year and strove to link up with the infrastructure plans of regional organizations in the continent as well as the African Union.

African countries have decided to expand economic and trade relations with China not solely because of its population of more than 1.3 billion and huge market potential as the world's second-largest economy, but also because of the value of mutual benefits that the Chinese not only propose but also practice.

The facts of history do not lie. As Li said when he was in Africa, there are opportunities aplenty for Africa as China grows strongly, and China can likewise benefit from growth in Africa.

Moreover, with a more prosperous Africa and a more prosperous China, the world comes out on top.

The author is a researcher with the Western Asia and Africa Studies Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 01/09/2015 page8)