Envoys lay ground for historic meeting

Opportunity beckons for relationship to be taken to a new level, delegates told

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, to be held on African soil for the first time in its 15-year history, has dominated discussions at a ambassadors' forum in Guangdong province.

The Ambassadors Forum: China's Reform and Opening-up and China-Africa Win-Win Cooperation was held in Guangzhou, which played host to diplomats from 34 African countries.

In a keynote address, Lin Songtian, director of African affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the forum was important, as it could be used as a platform to gather ideas before the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and a preceding inter-ministerial summit, both to be held in Johannesburg in the first week of December.

It will be the 15th anniversary of the forum in Johannesburg, where top leaders of Africa and China will meet, Lin said.

"For the first time, the summit will be held in Africa. It is important in comprehensively upgrading the China-Africa relationship."

The summit will be underpinned by the theme of win-win cooperation and will also look at strengthening economic ties, he said.

Two of the major topics to be discussed will be Africa's industrialization and its agricultural modernization, said Lin who has previously urged African countries to "first build the nest to attract the birds".

He has also said that China could build the "hardware", but that the accompanying "software" would be up to African nations to establish.

Various studies have shown that only 27 percent of Africa's available arable land is being used. One delegate said only 7 percent of China's land is arable and able to feed the majority of its 1-billion-plus population.

That the recent forum was held in Guangdong was significant because it is home to the largest African population in China, Lin said.

The province is also China's economic powerhouse and was the first to open up to economic reform.

Lin said China's development has meant a great deal to the progress of humanity. He also lauded some African countries for the good progress made over the past five decades.

In highlighting the Chinese model of reform and development, he cautioned that African countries should not simply copy other countries' models: "When we set off on a path of development we have to start from the situation our nation is in. We cannot simply copy development successes elsewhere."

China's success in recent decades has also fomented a type of Cold War thinking, Lin said. "Some in the West say Africa should not look toward Asian countries for advice. We will never ask Africa to blindly follow China's example. We have to learn from the strengths and successes of any country."

The head of the diplomatic corps, Uganda's ambassador to China, Madibo Wagidodo, says the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has been crucial to the African renaissance and the continent's continuing growth.

Because of the forum, he says, trade between China and Africa increased from $10 billion in 2000 to $220 billion last year.

"The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is the mechanism that has driven investment between China and Africa. Through it there has been an increase in investment by Chinese business people in Africa and by Africans in China."

In comparing various summits where African concerns and interests are represented, Wagidodo says: "The best mechanism for the relationship has been the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation."

Anani Demuyakor, Ghana's ambassador to China, called for land reform in Africa to be made a priority at the forum.

"Food security is key. In Africa we eat to live. Therefore agriculture and land is extremely important. We need to look at how China and Africa can work together to embed food security."

Martin Mpana, Cameroon's ambassador to China, says several action plans will be discussed in Johannesburg which will include a series of measures meant to further boost Chinese projects in Africa.

One will be an increase in private-public partnerships.

"In investing in African countries, Chinese companies help with building infrastructure and they also benefit," he says.

Winnie Chibesakunda, Zambia's ambassador to China, says health issues in Africa will also be a hot-button topic in Johannesburg.

"As early as 1963, China pledged its medical support, and today it has sent 18,000 medical personnel to Africa, treating 54 million Africans. Last year, China answered the call when the Ebola epidemic broke out."

She was also heartened by a new era in the forum with China and Africa working more closely together on health issues, in particular in targeting diseases such as malaria and boosting medical personnel assistance to the continent.

According to the World Malaria Report 2014, many African countries continue to be high malaria-endemic countries.

Abdoulaye Fall, Senegal's ambassador to China, says three things need to be noted in China's development.

"One, China does things its own way, so strategy is very important. Second, being practical is key, as it is all about achieving your goal. And third, how to harness the population to drive production capacity.

"But from the Chinese we can see there is no such thing as a Chinese mold. We need to continue to see how this relationship can benefit both sides."

Before the forum in Guangzhou, the African delegation took center stage at the opening ceremony of the Guangdong 21st Century Maritime Silk Road International Expo in Dongguan.

From there it made its way to Foshan and visited the Louvre International Furniture Exhibition Center and the Midea Group, a Forbes 500 company that makes household appliances.

The fourth port of call before the forum was the high-tech industrial park of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, which has developed an anti-malaria drug that has significantly reduced fatalities related to the disease in China, Cambodia and the Comoros.

In a letter, the university's director, Song Jianping, told the African ambassadors that the institution was willing to provide technical solutions relating to eliminating malaria.

"It is because your people are so hardworking and kind-hearted, and we hope to eliminate malaria in your countries within 15 years or less," he wrote.

Lin says these visits are important as it is a visible illustration of China's development. Guangdong Governor Zhu Xiaodan, who hosted a banquet for the delegates, says the win-win cooperation theme was apt for the forum. "As China is actively investing in Africa, we hope Guangdong can play an active role.

"China and Africa are developing countries whose common aspiration is to grow the livelihoods of our peoples. The collaboration - sincerity, real results and good faith - is the guiding principle of our future relationship. We hope to establish more sister cities and provinces with regions in African countries."

The author is the deputy editor of the Cape Argus in South Africa and a contributor to China Daily Africa Weekly. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/06/2015 page10)