Monrovia, Liberia – China’s and Africa’s joint modernization efforts will set off a wave of modernization in the Global South and open a fresh chapter in the fight for a society with a shared destiny for all people. Deeply ingrained in the old connection between the two sides is the China-Africa community with a shared future.
Helping to build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, approximately 50,000 Chinese laborers and engineers arrived during the 1970s, a crucial time for the economic growth of Tanzania and Zambia.
Seventy Chinese engineers, technicians, and laborers died in railway building, technical cooperation, and other projects in Tanzania during the past five decades. A monument honoring their contributions has been built in Tanzania’s Gongo la Mboto graveyard.
The 1,860-km-long railway reminds China’s long-standing connection with Africa. Time passes and the connection between China and Africa stays strong and gets stronger regardless of the changes in the globe.
Themed “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future,” the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which attracted over 50 African leaders, highlighted the common pursuit of China and African countries in realizing modernization.
For sixteen years, Nigerian first female train driver Issa Fatimoh Abiola has been employed by China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC). When she thought back on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s keynote speech on modernization given at the FOCAC Summit opening ceremony, she remembered CRCC’s major contributions to modernizing Nigeria.
Abiola said, “The CRCC has been deeply involved in Nigeria for 43 years, contributing tremendously to the country’s transportation and infrastructure modernization.”
“Since joining the company in 2008, I have witnessed the successful implementation of numerous landmark projects, including the Lekki Free Trade Zone, Abuja-Kaduna Railway, Lagos-Ibadan Railway, Abuja Light Rail, Lagos Blue Line, as well as ‘small and beautiful’ livelihood projects that directly benefit people’s livelihoods.”
Victoriah Mukiri is their legal adviser having spent 17 years working for China Railway No.10 Engineering Group Co., Ltd. Inspired by Xi’s remarks on “jointly advance modernization that is open and win-win,” Mukiri noted how her company expanded from a few projects to numerous regional operations in Kenya, including highways to municipal, housing, and mining development. The organization has trained batches of technicians, created thousands of employment, and significantly improved Kenya’s infrastructure.
“China remains an all-time friend,” President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo said during the Summit of the FOCAC’s opening ceremony. By means of shared history, values, and solidarity, he added, Africa and China are getting closer and their combined modernizing initiatives reveal a mutual commitment to peace and prosperity.
“We have created highways, railroads, hospitals, industrial parks, special economic zones collectively. Xi stated at a welcome luncheon hosted at the Great Hall of the People for summit attendees Wednesday, stressing that the China-Africa community with a shared future thrives on the power of win-eat cooperation has changed the life and fate of many people.
Development projects with Chinese businesses increasingly helping to boost Africa’s industrialization fuel this partnership.
One prominent example is the Sapphire Float Glass Factory in Tanzania’s coastline area, which exports six other African nations in addition to catering the local market. Since its opening in September 2023, the factory has generated 1,012 direct jobs for residents and 3,857 indirect jobs with a planned daily output capacity of about 700 tones. Once fully running, it should provide 6,000 indirect and 1,650 direct jobs.
“China’s imprints are evident and vivid in infrastructure improvement, rapid industrialization and all progress in small and medium-sized enterprises in our countries,” Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan stated on the inauguration ceremony on Thursday.
“Our presence here today reflects the solidarity and commitment to build a shared future of progress and prosperity,” she said, urging African nations to cooperate with China towards profitable socio-economic innovations and growth.
Chinese companies are significantly helping Botswana to shift toward greener energy. To formally introduce the first 100 MW solar photovoltaic power plant in August, Botswana Power Corporation inked a power purchase deal with Sinotswana Green Energy, a group of Chinese and Botswana businesses.
Project anticipated to start operations by the end of 2025 has been praised as a “key milestone” in the nation’s energy transformation.
Driven by the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization, China-Africa agricultural cooperation has also blossomed producing remarkable results in technical assistance and training for agricultural experts, the transfer of advanced technologies, the establishment of agricultural parks, and the promotion of farming projects for Juncao and hybrid rice. Thanks to this cooperation, Africa’s agriculture has become more contemporary.
“Agricultural modernization guarantees great degree of output.” It helps to avoid infections and reduces manufacturing expenses. According to member of the National Assembly of Kenya Nabwera Daraja Nabii, that is the path African countries should follow.
China has trained more than 14,000 people and brought hybrid rice growing and Juncao technologies to other countries, so benefiting millions of farmers. Several countries all around have taken part in research and demonstration planting of hybrid rice, with almost 8 million hectares planted overseas annually.
China has developed more than 600 sophisticated agricultural technologies over the past ten years and set 24 agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa, so improving local crop yields by an average of 30 to 60 percent and helping over 1 million farmers all over the continent.
“We hope that China may work very closely with us so that we can feed the world,” stated Thomas Tayebwa, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament from Uganda. “Africa might be the food basket for the rest of the world.”
As China-Africa ties strive to boost their economies and livelihoods, talent development is equally crucial for both China and Africa; so, educational cooperation is pillar of their relationship.
China has set up 17 Luban Workshops in 15 African nations to equip young African people with skills so they may land employment in Chinese-owned businesses. China has taught over 220,000 Africans under customized programs designed to fit their particular needs.
China wants to equip 10,000 technical personnel with both Chinese language and vocational skills for Africa annually as well as 500 principals and vocational teachers under the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development. More African young people are able to follow their aspirations thanks to this talent cooperation in fields including technology sectors and healthcare.
“In the twenty-first century, vocational and technical education is rather vital. Prof. Kabiru Bala, Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University of Nigeria, remarked, “What you can do depends on the training that you have; the kind of institutions you attend determines the training you get.”
“We have a lot of young people on Africa, so it is a young continent. Prof. Olusola B. Oyewole, secretary general of the Association of African Universities of Ghana, said today that our work now is to see that these young people are equipped in terms of skills and competency that will drive our developments.”
In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the FOCAC, Xi declared, “on the path to modernization, no one, and no country should be left behind.”
The combined quest of modernization by China and Africa will start a tsunami of modernization in the Global South and launch a new chapter in the path towards a society with a shared future for mankind.
“China’s partnership with the African continent is the main pillar of South-Song cooperation,” remarked United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres while speaking to the FOCAC Summit in 2024. “Your combined efforts grounded on the United Nations Charter will generate fresh impetus for African development.”
Said Guterres, the China-Africa alliance can “drive the renewable energy revolution,” and be “a catalyst for key transitions in food systems and digital connectivity,” pointing out Africa can maximize the possibilities of China’s support in areas from trade to data management, finance and technology.
Journalist Isaura Diez of Prensa Latina news agency from Cuba covered the FOCAC Summit scheduled for Beijing for 2024. She believes that all countries in the Global South should unite in voice and that Latin America should draw from China-Africa collaboration as a “sample.”
Diez said, “The FOCAC Summit shows us what kind of collaboration and agreements we can develop as a continent with China. For other regions of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, improving China-Africa relations takes first priority. We may cooperate despite our differences by means of mutual respect, peaceful cohabitation, and non-interference in our personal affairs.”
The FOCAC conference seeks to generate agreement on how China and African nations may cooperate to realize the promise of industrialization, agricultural modernization, and young talent development.
“We will accomplish new and even greater feats together on the way toward modernization, spearhead the modernization drive of the Global South, and make greater contributions to a community with a shared future for mankind,” Xi said on Wednesday at the welcome banquet, citing the 2.8-billion-strong Chinese and African people united.
“I would want to be part of the movement for Global South modernization. “There is nothing we cannot achieve when we come together and cooperate,” said Abiola, the first female train driver from Nigeria.
She said people may fully use the great resources of the Global South by means of coordinated development. “By properly utilizing these resources to propel economic development and raise living standards, I am confident that the future will be filled with hope and opportunity,” she stated.
Credit To: Xinhua
