China shines as inspiration to African countries

Diplomats and experts have hailed China's modernization as an inspiration for African countries to pursue their own development.

African countries are seeking a development path for modernization of their own, African Union Permanent Representative to China Rahamtalla Osman told the second conference on dialogue between Chinese and African civilizations.

"I hope that African countries could deepen their understanding of China in their exchanges and mutual learning about civilization, thereby making greater contributions to sustainable peace, development and human progress," Osman said.

Liu Yuxi, special representative of the Chinese government on African affairs, said that the development advantages of China and Africa are highly complementary, and the prospects for a mutually beneficial cooperation are broad.

The two sides are walking at the forefront of the world in the process of building a global community of shared future, setting an example and a model for South-South cooperation and global development cooperation, he said.

In 2022, China's newly increased direct investment in Africa reached $3.43 billion (24.5 billion yuan), and trade volume between China and Africa reached $282 billion. China has been the largest trading partner of Africa for 14 consecutive years, according to Liu.

Peter Kagwanja, president and chief executive of the Africa Policy Institute in Kenya, said that Chinese modernization comes from a specific civilization but has benefited Africa.

Despite the different paths of modernization taken by the two civilizations, Africa and China share common goals and directions, he said, adding that Africa hopes to learn more from Chinese modernization to jointly build a community of shared future for the two countries.

Charles Okechukwu Onunaiju, director of the Center for China Studies of Nigeria, said that the achievement of Chinese modernization relies on the leadership of the Communist Party of China and the people-centered philosophy, and the country has explored its own way of modernization unique to China's realities.

Noting that Africa is currently facing a new historical turning point, he said that cooperation with China has given a historical opportunity to the continent to achieve sustainable modernization.

China is a partner that has both the ability and willingness to help Africa's development, he added.

Alpha Mohamed Jalloh, director of China Africa Institute at the University of Makeni in Sierra Leone, said that the African continent has enormous development potential, rich natural resources, and a young and vibrant population, but it also faces multiple challenges such as inadequate infrastructure, political instability, and insufficient education and medical resources.

Under the framework of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative, China has provided great help to improve infrastructure and telecommunication facilities in Africa, and trained talents for the continent, which are conducive to Africa's sustainable development and modernization.

Jalloh said that he also hopes that Africa-China cooperation can be strengthened in broader areas including scientific research, education as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges.