Since its establishment in 2000, the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has become an important platform for collective dialogue between China and Africa and an effective mechanism for practical cooperation.
Why do we value Africa so much, and why is the China-Africa community of shared future so important? To understand the significance of Africa to China, we must start with the Belt and Road Initiative.
After World War II, the United States led the third international division of labor by exporting institutions, establishing rules and systems, etc. In the trade system constructed by the United States, the most profitable high-end industries are retained in Europe and the United States, and are given to Japan and South Korea through industrial spillovers.
If we want to break down the barriers of the U.S. trade system, we must breakaway from the shackles of industrial division of labor and establish our own trade system. This is how "The Belt and Road" and "a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind" were born.
In China's trade system, Europe is an important high-end consumer market; while Africa occupies an important resource position.
Regardless of the trading system, there are basically three types of countries. One is the consumer country, such as Europe and the United States; the other is the resource country, such as the Middle East, Russia, Australia, etc.; the other is the producer country, and we are the largest producer.
Today we mainly talk about resource countries.
As you can see, the important resource countries in the world have been severely eroded by geopolitics. The political situation in the Middle East, South America and other regions is very unstable, and coups and wars occur from time to time, which has brought great uncertainty to China's trading system.
This requires certain resource strategic support to supplement the resource ecology. This support is Africa.
China-Africa friendship has a strong foundation, and many African countries have a very friendly attitude towards Chinese investment. This has a great relationship with China's long-term pragmatic management of African affairs, and it cannot be shaken or challenged by other countries.
Africa is very rich in rare metals, oil, coal and other resources, which can fully meet the energy needs of our trading system.
Secondly, Africa has huge market potential. Africa is the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries. Africa has a population of 1.3 billion, which is almost as much as China's population. By creating opportunities for local economic development through infrastructure construction and setting up factories, China can also stimulate the formation of mid- to low-end markets and find new places for China's huge domestic production capacity.
In 2023, China-Africa trade volume reached US$282.1 billion, an increase of nearly 35% over 2013. In the first seven months of this year, China's imports and exports to Africa reached 1.19 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.5%, setting a new record for the same period in history.
China-Africa cooperation is a complementary relationship and a typical structure of sustainable win-win. This is also the reason why, in addition to the market and trade attributes of the Belt and Road Initiative, there is another layer of community of shared future.
To a certain extent, China and Africa share the same direction in breaking the fate of the old international order!
According to the latest news from the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit, China will work with African countries and the African Union to further deepen the alignment of rules and standards in the fields of trade, investment, green, digital, agriculture, etc; Focus on the fields of culture, tourism, education, sports, traditional Chinese medicine, etc., and jointly promote the construction of "small but beautiful" livelihood projects; It will also deepen China-Africa cross-border e-commerce cooperation, share experiences in "digital commerce to promote trade" and "digital commerce to promote agriculture", and participate in the digital transformation of Africa's traditional industries and public services.
It can be seen that this forum is a new beginning. China and Africa have begun to cooperate at a higher level and in more areas.
As the President of Seychelles said, the future of China-Africa cooperation is bright!