Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, at invitation, officially visited Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi and South Africa at the beginning of the year. It’s widely believed that the visit, which gained warm responses in the four African countries, will further step up the traditional friendship and consolidate the development momentum of relations between China and Africa. The international media also keeps a close eye to the visit. Prior to concluding the tour, Yang received interview of Xinhua News Agency journalist stationed in South Africa and answered questions concerning the African situation and China-Africa relations.
Q: Minister Yang, you will successfully end your African tour very soon. Compared with your visit last year, what changes do you think the African situation has experienced?
A: The world rushed into a new stage of economic turmoil, pattern rebalancing and system reshuffle throughout last year. The African situation also experienced profound and complicated changes. What impressed me most is that Africa in general maintained peace, stability and relatively fast economic growth, the integration progress sped up and regional organizations like African Union (AU) played increasingly important role of maintaining regional peace and stability. African countries actively took part in international affairs, enjoyed rising status on the international arena and received greater attention from the international community.
Meanwhile, peace and development in Africa still face many difficulties. Some regional hot issues tend to get intensified and regional security situation fluctuated. The global financial crisis was negatively felt in the African countries and impacted the sustainable growth of the continent.
Throughout the tour, I’m deeply impressed by the confidence and courage of the African countries and people in front of difficulties and challenges. I feel keenly that Africa is indeed a continent full of energy and hope as well as great development potential. As a sincere friend, China from the bottom of our hearts is delighted to see the progress of Africa.
Q: During your visit, you held meetings and talks with the leaders and foreign ministers of the four countries respectively and exchanged in-depth views with them on how to strengthen bilateral ties and China-Africa relations. Could you elaborate the current development and future trend of China-Africa relations?
A: It is a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policies to strengthen the friendly cooperative relations with Africa. It is also a long-term resolute strategic choice of China. The past year witnessed significant progress of China-Africa relations. Both sides maintained high-level exchanges and deepened strategic mutual trust. A number of African heads of states and governments visited China or attended and watched the Beijing Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The African countries, as always, extended valuable support to us on the issues related with our core and major interest and during the period of earthquake disaster relief, which fully demonstrates the profound friendship of African countries and people with the Chinese people. China continued supporting the efforts of African countries of keeping political stability and promoting economic growth. The outcome of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit was further implemented. The 8 policy measures of pragmatic cooperation with Africa were carried out steadily. The ever expanding China-Africa cooperation brought about tangible benefits to both sides. The bilateral cooperation in the energy and resources sectors and China’s active efforts of helping African countries turn energy advantages into development capacity were welcomed by the African side. Growing rapidly, the trade volume between China and Africa reached the goal of US$100 billon two years in advance. The colorful and fruitful bilateral cooperation in the educational, cultural and social sectors enriched the connotation of bilateral ties.
2009 is an important year for China-Africa relations to continue to move forward and will create new development opportunities for the bilateral ties. The Chinese leaders will continue to take the development of relations with Africa as a top priority of Chinese diplomacy. In recent years, Chinese leaders have visited Africa each year, and it’s estimated that they will arrange important visit to Africa this year as well, which will offer opportunities to consolidate the traditional friendship, deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation and enable both sides to share development opportunities and cope with risks and challenges jointly. The fourth ministerial-level meeting of FOCAC will be held in Egypt in the fourth quarter this year to comprehensively assess the implementation of Beijing Summit outcome and make all-round plans for China-Africa cooperation in the next 3 years, which will lift the cooperation to a new level. It is said that AU will hold its 12th summit in early February. China attaches importance to the key role of AU in the African and international affairs and is committed to strengthening friendly cooperation with the organization. The AU summit will take the theme of infrastructure development in Africa, showing that African countries put great emphasis on and are eager to improve their infrastructure construction. China is ready to enhance cooperation with Africa on that regard and make our own contributions to the economic and social development of Africa.
This year, China will continue to follow the principles of sincere friendship, treating each other as equals, mutual benefit and reciprocity and common development to advance China-Africa unity and cooperation. Particular efforts will be made to deepen the bilateral pragmatic cooperation. China will broaden cooperation with African countries in such fields as infrastructure construction, agriculture, telecommunications and human resources development and turn them into new growth points of China-Africa relations.
China highly values the important role of the African side on the major international and regional issues concerning Sudan’s Darfur, Zimbabwe, Pirates of Somalia and reform of UN Security Council. We will keep close communications and coordination and enhance mutual understanding and support with Africa, push forward the peaceful settlement of related issues and protect the common interest of developing countries.
Q: The global financial crisis has a big impact on the world economy. Countries have all taken strengthening international cooperation as a major way of coping with the crisis. What policies will China consider in order to reinforce China-Africa cooperation and jointly tackle the crisis?
A: The global financial crisis has become a focal point of all parties concerned and a key topic of my meetings with leaders and foreign ministers of the four countries. I introduced to them China’s principled position on coping with the financial crisis and major measures of ensuring the stable and relatively fast growth of domestic economy and stressed the particular necessity of China-Africa cooperation in front of the challenges of the crisis. China is making efforts in the following four aspects. Firstly, it will continue to provide assistance within its own capacity to Africa. The Chinese government has made it clear on many occasions that it will not cut assistance to Africa due to the financial crisis. During the visit, we signed a large number of economic cooperation agreements with Uganda, Rwanda and Malawi and promised new grant assistance and preferential loans to them. Secondly, China will continue to increase trade and mutual investment with Africa on the basis of equality and mutual benefit and help African countries enhance their capacity of realizing sustainable growth and resisting external economic risks. Thirdly, we will urge the international community to faithfully fulfill its commitment and create a sound external environment for African countries to overcome difficulties. Fourthly, China will support the increase of representativeness and voice of African countries in the process of pushing forward the reform of international financial system.
African countries highly appreciate those efforts which they believe reflect China’s firm support and important role of promoting world economy, especially the African economy and stabilizing the international financial market as a responsible country. They will increase coordination and cooperation with China in those areas to realize mutual benefit and win-win outcomes.
Q: Minister Yang, there are two countries in the Great Lakes region you visited this time. What role will China play to promote the peace process in the region?
A: The international community pays great attention to the peace process of the Great Lakes region in recent years. Related countries in the region have held two regional international conferences which demonstrated their determination of pushing forward peace process, advancing economic integration and seeking common development. China believes that peace process in the region is hard win and regional countries and other relevant parties should establish a peace and security mechanism and jointly maintain and push forward the regional peace process through strengthening dialogue and cooperation, in the spirit of unity and good-neighborly friendship of Africa and on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity and the reasonable concerns of each other. We appeal to the international community to keep its attention to and efforts in the region and help it realize peace, stability and development in an all-round way at an early date. As a permanent member of the Security Council, China has made great efforts of fueling peace process in the region and will join hands with the international community in the future to play a constructive role of building lasting peace and stability there.
Q: Minister Yang, you have chosen African countries as the destination of your first foreign visit each year since you took office two years ago. I think you must have many to say about that.
A: Chinese foreign minister pays first foreign visit to an African country each year, which is a good tradition of the Chinese diplomacy over the years. From this point of view, it shows China attaches great importance to developing relations with African countries. I do have much to say about that. Firstly, China is an old friend and good friend of African countries. China-Africa friendship goes back to ancient times and is deeply rooted in people’s hearts. The sound China-Africa relationship is the result of relentless efforts of generations of both Chinese and African people. Secondly, the Chinese and African people have similar historical experience and face identical development tasks. The development of bilateral relations is a need of both sides and has brought about tangible benefit to their people. Thirdly, China-Africa cooperation is totally mutually beneficial, which not only promotes the development of China and Africa but also encourages the international community to pay greater attention and make greater input in Africa. During the visit, the African national leaders made it very clear that China-Africa cooperation enjoys high quality and fruitful results and has contributed remarkably to the development and progress of Africa.
Of course, in the process of rapid development, China-Africa relations will unavoidably encounter some problems, but they are problems with development nature and can surely be settled properly through consultations on an equal footing.
The friendly cooperative relations between China and Africa have withstood the tests of time and fluctuating international situation and showed vigorous vitality. I’m resolutely confident that the relations will harvest more fruits with the concerted efforts of both sides.