Winton Dong

dht0620@126.com

IN Chinese poems, a candle is often used as a symbol of devotion and dedication because it burns itself to give light to others.

In my point of view, one candle will not lose its illumination by giving light to the other. If China and Africa are likened to two candles, the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held between Sept. 3 and 4, has proved that two candles working together will surely make our world a brighter place.

Chinese and African peoples throughout history have experienced similar situations and unfair treatment, so they have chosen to join hands for economic development and social well-being. As the two main engines of Sino-African cooperation, the construction of infrastructure and industrial parks is in full swing in Africa. China boasts a long tradition of assisting African construction. Almost half a century ago between 1970 and 1975, China sent thousands of workers to help finance and build the 1,860-km Tanzam Railway, linking landlocked Zambia to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam. China has so far helped build 6,500 km of railways, 6,000 km of highways, more than 200 schools, 80-odd stadiums, dozens of government and assembly buildings, and various harbors and airports in the African continent.

New infrastructure construction has greatly enhanced the livelihood of African people and facilitated the flow of personnel in the continent. More importantly, it has also laid a solid foundation for industrial cooperation and trade links between the two sides. Over the past years, China has helped create six overseas industrial zones in five African countries such as Ethiopia, Nigeria, Zambia, Egypt and Mauritius. The Eastern Industry Zone in Ethiopia, for example, has attracted 85 investors with a total investment of US$500 million. The zone also pays an annual tax of US$80 million to the Ethiopian Government. Due to Chinese help, Ethiopia is now leading the growth in eastern Africa. It witnessed a GDP growth of 7.3 percent in 2017 and its targeted GDP increase is as high as 7.5 percent this year. The African continent as a whole also benefits a lot from its cooperation with China. Sino-African trade volume was only US$10 billion in 2000, but the figure soared to US$170 billion last year.

While China is beefing up its cooperation in Africa, Western countries have also reinforced their investment in the continent. But under the guidance of the Washington Consensus, the effectiveness of their financial aid seems not so good. Western countries have put many political strings and additional conditions on their investment in Africa. For example, since Zambia is one of the world’s major copper producers, the country should have a say in international pricing and should have earned a lot with the soaring price of copper since 2003. However, Zambia’s state-owned copper company was forced to privatize into seven units and sold to various Western investors during the process of attracting financial aid from developed countries. At present, the Zambian Government’s tax revenue from the copper industry is only one-third of the figure before its privatization.

Unlike Western countries, China’s cooperation with Africa is based on equality and win-win outcomes. China neither attaches political strings to its investment nor intervenes in the internal affairs of other countries, nor does it come up with demands that are against the will of others. While addressing the opening ceremony of the 2018 China-Africa summit last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated the country’s “five-no” approaches in handling relations with Africa: no interference in African countries’ pursuit of development paths; no interference in internal affairs; no imposition of China’s will on African countries; no political strings attached to assistance; and no pursuit of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation.

Facing global economic uncertainties, China is determined to grow an open economy for win-win cooperation and embrace a multilateral trading system. The country will implement eight major initiatives and extend a total of US$60 billion financing to Africa in the next three years. The financing includes US$15 billion of grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, US$20 billion of credit lines, the setting up of a US$10 billion special fund and a US$5 billion special fund for financing imports from Africa. Chinese companies are also encouraged to make at least US$10 billion of investment in the continent.

Both Chinese and African people deserve respect and a decent life. With mutual respect and mutual benefit as the guiding principle, we are confident that more and more remarkable achievements of China-Africa cooperation will be made in the future.

(The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)