Africa-Press – Mozambique. AS an experienced and seasoned diplomat, who has had the privilege of serving at the department of Asia and Australasia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Republic of Tanzania, the department that handles many issues including the relationship between Tanzania and China, I had the opportunity to grasp and learn extensively the historical relationships between the African continent and China.
One of the events that I will never forget in my diplomatic service career, is the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation-FOCAC, which was launched in 2000 in Beijing, China. This forum has not only become a critical and excellent platform of cooperation between China and Africa, but has also set a precedence for what is the best for Africa and who is a true friend to the continent.
China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa close together. China and Africa will always be a community of shared future and must share their development path. Developing solidarity and cooperation with African countries has been the cornerstone of China’s foreign policy, as well as a firm and longstanding strategy.
In the fight for national liberation and independence, China and African countries supported each other and expanded mutual political trust in the process. In pursuing economic development and national rejuvenation, both sides have been helping the other and increasing the scope of cooperation. On major international and regional issues, they have coordinated their positions and jointly safeguarded international equality and justice. I remember my days at our Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, I used to chair meetings of the G77 and China. China has never left Africa alone, be it in the international arenas or on the continent.
Entering the new era, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the principles of China’s Africa policy, which was launched in Dar es Salaam in 2013 – which are sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests, charting the course for China’s cooperation with Africa, and providing the fundamental guidelines.
The successes of the 2015 Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) the 2018 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC and the 2024 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC pushed China-Africa cooperation to a new and unprecedented high. President Xi Jinping and African leaders unanimously agreed to promote the six-point proposition on the joint endeavor to advance modernization, and to jointly implement the 10 partnership actions for modernization, leading China-Africa relations into a new stage of jointly building an all-weather community with a shared future for the new era.
China-Africa friendship has not been an overnight achievement, nor has it been gifted from on high. Rather, it has been fostered throughout the years when China and Africa supported and stood alongside each other in trying times. China has aided Africa’s development to the limit of its capabilities, and has been grateful for the strong support and selfless help African countries and their peoples have extended to China for a long period of time.
testimony of our times, supporting this friendship. During the Covid-19 pandemic, China and African countries continued to provide mutual support, writing a new chapter in China-Africa solidarity and friendship at times of crisis.
China and Africa enjoy a long-lasting friendship. Chairman Mao Zedong and other first-generation leaders of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), along with African statesmen of the older generation, laid the foundations for China-Africa friendship and must be cherished by both sides. China has always offered respect ,appreciation, and support for Africa, and the Chinese people have shared weal and woe and mutual assistance with African people, exploring a distinctive path to win-win cooperation. At the FOCAC Beijing Summit held in 2024, the two sides adopted a Beijing Declaration and Action Plan for strengthening China-Africa cooperation in the next three years. President Xi Jinping announced ten partnership actions that China would take with Africa to advance modernization in the next three years, covering the areas of mutual learning among civilizations, trade prosperity, industrial chain cooperation, connectivity, development cooperation, health, agriculture and livelihoods, people-to-people exchanges, green development, and common security. China and Africa have stood together in success and adversity, setting an example for building a global community of shared future.
China-Africa cooperation is about mutual support between developing countries. Over the years, China has formed a distinctive approach to win-win cooperation with Africa and Africa, given her past experiences from other partners, welcomes this new approach by China, where everyone matters. This approach is in line with the traditional Chinese philosophy, “Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you.” It also corresponds to the fundamental interests of African countries and the basic norms of international relations and even the requirements as stipulated in the United Nations Charter. It is a hallmark of China-Africa
solidarity and cooperation and can serve as a useful reference for international cooperation with Africa.
The 2024 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC adopted a Beijing Declaration and a
FOCAC Action Plan for 2025-2027. These documents outline the commitments and actions for strengthening cooperation between China and African nations. It has charted the course for China-Africa cooperation in the new era. In my personal experience, every year I do participate more than three seminars for think-tanks, and it is just last month, I returned from Kunming, Yunnan where the 14th Forum of China-Africa think-tanks was held.
At this juncture, given the path that both sides have walked through, ultimately, it is for the Chinese and African people to judge the results of China-Africa cooperation and not an outsider. China has always taken development as the foundation for human rights and has ensured more effectively the rights to subsistence and development for our people. China’s aim in developing cooperation with Africa will always be to promote the fundamental interests of the Chinese and African people. It will never make containment of any third country an aim of its policy in Africa.
When China-Africa cooperation thrives, South-South cooperation will flourish. When China and Africa are fully developed, the world will be a better place. Cooperation in the new era is the sure way for China and Africa to realize common development. It will lay more solid foundations for building an even stronger China-Africa community of shared future, and build up strong momentum for the rise of developing countries as a whole, and for more balanced international
relations.
China’s victory in poverty reduction resonates particularly in Africa, where many nations view China’s efforts as a source of inspiration in their own quests to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development.
One example of China’s commitment to helping African countries tackle poverty is the transfer of Juncao technology, often referred to as the Chinese hybrid grass technology. Originally developed in China, this innovative technology uses a type of hybrid grass to cultivate edible and medicinal mushrooms, while also serving as animal feed and a natural method for controlling soil erosion.
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On June 11, 2025, the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was held in Changsha, Hunan Province. Wang Yi, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China officiated the meeting in which he read out the congratulatory letter from Jean-Claudee Gakoso, Foreign Minister of the Republic of Congo and the co-chair of the FOCAC also read out the congratulatory letter from President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo. Over 100 ministerial officials from FOCAC member states, the African Union (AU) Commission, and the diplomatic representatives of African countries to China attended the meeting.
In his read-out letter, President Xi Jinping provided an insightful elaboration on the significance of China-Africa solidarity and cooperation, and announced China’s important measures to further expand openness and cooperation with Africa. His guidance and definition of direction since the inception of the FOCAC has continued to provide important direction and path for China and Africa to jointly advance modernization and build an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. Since its establishment 25 years ago, the FOCAC has grown rapidly, driving China-Africa relations to achieve a leapfrog development and ushering in their best period in history.
There is no doubt that the FOCAC summit held in Beijing in September 2024, the first attended by all Heads of State and Government from African countries with diplomatic ties with China, marked the beginning of a new journey for jointly building a China-Africa community with a shared future. Guided by the consensus reached at the summit, China and Africa have actively implemented the ten partnership actions and achieved new and encouraging outcomes. Strategic mutual trust between China and Africa has become stronger compared to any other region, practical cooperation has been increasingly deepened, and multilateral coordination and cooperation has become closer. It is evident that China-Africa cooperation has a solid foundation, extensive demands, and even enormous potential, and is brimming with vigor and vitality. As the world continues to experience new developments, it is evident now that when China and Africa stand shoulder to shoulder, the development and revitalization of the Global South becomes more promising, and international fairness and justice becomes more guaranteed. It should be also recalled that China is the only country from the Global South that permanently sits at the United Nations Security Council, and hence China does not only sit in for her own interests, but the interests of the whole Global South.
China, being the largest developing country in the world, and Africa being the continent and home to many developing countries, together form a backbone of the Global South. The more complex and turbulent the international landscape becomes, the more imperative it is for China and Africa to uphold solidarity and self-reliance, stand firmly on the right side of history, and actively steer the course of the times, respond to uncertainties in the world with the stability and resilience of China-Africa relations. The two sides should uphold mutual assistance and serve as defenders of solidarity among the Global South, uphold openness and serve as
advocates for international free trade, uphold mutual benefit and win-win results and serve as partners in global development cooperation, uphold fairness and justice and serve as defenders of an equitable international order, and uphold exchanges and mutual learning and serve as promoters of the diversity of the world civilization. This century belongs to both China and Africa.
As China builds a great nation and advances national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization, Africa is experiencing a new awakening and steadily progressing toward the modernization goals outlined in the AU’s Agenda 2063. As long as this cooperation of 2.8 billion people remains strong and united, China and Africa can move forward hand in hand and achieve remarkable achievements on the path toward modernization, lead the vigorous development of modernization across the Global South, and make greater contributions to building a community with a shared future for mankind.
There is no doubt that China and Africa have deep historical ties and a shared future. China-Africa strategic partnership is founded on mutual respect and mutual trust, and is committed to solidarity, cooperation, mutual benefit, and win-win results. From FOCAC, China has laid concrete actions in supporting Africa’s development. African countries warmly welcomed the ten partnership actions that were put forward by President Xi Jinping and supported the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035. Africa is ready to deliver on the outcomes of the Beijing Summit and help realize the African people’s aspirations for a better life for all.
During the Changsha meeting, both sides made it clear on how they opposed the abuse of tariffs and unilateral sanctions. China and Africa firmly confirmed their position and agreed to jointly address challenges caused by the rapid changing world order. The China-Africa Changsha Declaration on Upholding Solidarity and Cooperation of the Global South was issued, and both officials committed to implementing it.
As I conclude, I want to state the obvious. China is ready to work with Africa to deepen the implementation of the ten partnership actions for modernization, prioritize cooperation in such key areas as green industry, e-commerce and e-payment, science and technology, and artificial intelligence, and enhance cooperation in security, finance and the rule of law, so as to promote high-quality development of China-Africa cooperation. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has become a fine example of solidarity and cooperation of the Global South.
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