Every year approaching October 1st our joy is shared and happiness doubled, be it in Abuja or in Beijing.
On October 1st 1963, Nigeria achieved its independence. On October 1st 1949, the People’s Republic of China was founded.
When the new China was founded in 1949, it was one of the poorest and most backward countries in the world. Life expectancy at birth for the Chinese then was merely 35 years. During the past 68 years, China with its 5000-year-civilization legacy has gone through tremendous changes and successfully blazed a path of socialism with distinct Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
The Chinese mainland initiated its reform and opening-up policy in 1978. At that time, the economic size of China’s Taiwan Province was about 50% of that of the mainland. That ratio is now less than 5%. The period of the past 5 years is especially extraordinary in China’s development. China’s economy keeps growing with continuity and stability and remains the second largest economy in the world. Its annual contribution to the overall growth of world economy is more than 30% on average.
Its share of the world GDP is increasing and stands at 15% today. Life expectancy for the Chinese is now 76 years. The Chinese people are full of confidence about our country’s bright future and the correct path that we have chosen for ourselves.
The key to understanding China is to know about the CPC. The leadership by the Commusit Party of China is both the defining feature and the biggest strength of socialism with Chinese characteristics. When the CPC was founded in 1921, there were only 13 delegates at its 1st National Congress representing 50 plus party members nationwide.
On October 18th this year, the 19th National Congress of the CPC will be convened in Beijing with 2300 delegates representing 89 million party members nationwide. The Congress will deliver comprehensive, strategic and forward-looking guidelines and policy framework for China’s development and foreign relations in the next 5 years and beyond.
A new CPC Central Committee will be elected at the Congress. The Congress is attracting world-wide attention and expectation. By 2020, China’s GDP and the per-capita income of urban and rural residents shall both double that of 2010. A moderately prosperous society in an all-round way will have been achieved by the centenary of the founding of the CPC in 2021.
Then we will continue to work hard for the second centenary goal, which is at the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 2049, China will have become a strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and modern socialist country.
China’s development is open and cooperative. In the next five years, China will import goods of 8 trillion USD, attract foreign investment of 600 billion USD, make outbound investment of 750 billion USD, and China’s outbound tour visits will exceed 700 million.
All these will provide bigger market, more capital, greater variety of products and more cooperation opportunities for countries around the world including Nigeria.
China and Africa are a community of shared future sharing common interests and challenges as well as a community of common interests with win-win cooperation. On September 20th, Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane of South Africa co-chaired the fourth round of political consultation between Chinese and African Foreign Ministers during the UN General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York.
Foreign Ministers or representatives of nearly 50 African countries were present. The Chinese side is willing to continuously uphold the policy towards Africa featuring sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and the correct value of friendship, justice and shared interests proposed by President Xi Jinping, comprehensively advance China-Africa Ten Major Cooperation Plans, push forward the implementation of the “Belt and Road” construction in Africa, and support Africa in well implementing the Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
What distinguishes China-Africa cooperation is that China always honors its words and its actions deliver. Since the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit in December 2015, more than half of the 60 billion USD funding support that China pledged to Africa has been disbursed or arranged, further driving additional hundreds of billions of dollars of investment and financing into Africa.
Meanwhile, China-Africa cooperation is undergoing three positive shifts: from government-driven to market-driven, from trade in goods to cooperation on production capacity, and from project-contracting to capital investment and operations. China will make joint efforts with Africa to well plan the upcoming FOCAC meeting, and forge the version 2.0 of China-Africa cooperation, so as to promote
China-Africa cooperation for constant and new practical outcomes. China and Nigeria, both large developing countries, regard each other as important strategic partners. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 46 years ago, much progress has been made in our bilateral ties. The all-dimensional, wide-ranging and high-quality cooperation between our two countries has been a pacesetter in China-Africa cooperation, bringing real benefits to our two peoples and contributing to world peace and development. China has become Nigeria’s largest project contractor, second largest trading partner and a major source of investment.
With remarkably strengthened political mutual trust and economic complementarity, our bilateral relations now face new stategic opportunities of growth. Industrialization is one of the five execution priorities of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP), which was released by Nigerian Government in March.
As the world’s top manufacturer, China has proved to be a most desirable and reliable long-term partner for Nigeria in its quest for development and prosperity. China supports the relocation of its industries to Nigeria and expansion of production capacity cooperation with Nigeria on a priority basis. China is willing to share its experiences with Nigeria and provide capital, technology and talents in support of Nigeria’s industrialization.
The potential of “Made-in-Nigeria with China” is huge. China values its relations with Nigeria. We should seize the opportunity and work together to lift our relations to a new level for the greater benefit of our two peoples.
(Dr. Zhou Pingjian is Ambassador of China to Nigeria)