Sincere, practical cooperation between China and Africa

(People's Daily Overseas Edition)

15:08, September 16, 2011

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

China and Africa are friends, and furthermore, are like brothers. After China and Africa jointly proposed to establish the China-Africa Forum in 2000, numerous Chinese enterprises have stepped on the land of Africa. While participating in Africa's economic construction, they were also making efforts to benefit the local people, promote the cultural exchange and have developed solid friendship with African people. 

For many years, China has been focusing its investments on the infrastructure construction that can directly benefits the common people of Africa, such as roads, bridges, medical facilities and other hardware projects. China has helped African countries build a great batch of large-scale projects including the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, Friendship Harbor in Mauritania and Lagdo Hydropower Station in Cameroon. 

The President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade once wrote an article on the Financial Times, saying that China had helped African countries build many infrastructure projects and improved the quality of life of millions of common African people instead of a few African elites by direct investments, loans and fair and reasonable contracts. 

However, regarding China's aid to Africa, there are always hostile voices coming from other corners of the world, describing China's aids to Africa as the so-called neocolonialism. 

The rise of China does not rely on such means as the war or colonialism, but relies on treating other countries in the principle of equality. 

While Premier Wen Jiabao was visiting Africa in June of 2006, he clearly said that the hat of neocolonialism must never be put on China's head. Starting from 1840 when the Opium War broke out, China once suffered the colonialism for about 110 years. The Chinese nation deeply knows the misery brought by the colonialism and the importance of fighting against colonialists. This is a major reason why China has been supporting the national liberation and rejuvenation of Africa for a long time.

The close relationship between China and Africa always makes Western countries "jealous." Apart from the theory of "new colonialism," the West has also claimed "China covets Africa's abundant natural resources." As Chinese Deputy Commerce Minister Fu Ziying has said, African oil exports to China are transacted according to international trade rules, and the volume accounts for less than 30 percent of the total. Moreover, the owners of Guinea's largest ore mine exploration rights are not Chinese, but Western countries that colonized Africa before. Although the Republic of Mali has almost few resources, China is helping it build bridges and roads. 

The purpose of China's foreign policy is to maintain world peace and promote common development, according to The White Paper on China's Peaceful Development issued by the Information Office of the State Council on September 6. 

China also adheres to China-Africa exchange and cooperation principles of sincerity, equality and mutual benefit, solidarity and common development. It did, does and will do like this in the future. The cooperation between Chinese enterprises and Africa will further move forward under these principles and on the basis of sincerity.

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