State Councilor Yang Jiechi's Interview With Independent News & Media South Africa

On October 10, visiting Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi had an interview with Independent News & Media South Africa. Full text follows: 

Independent News & Media: As Your Excellency has visited South Africa several times, what's your impression about South Africa? What is the aim of your trip to South Africa this time?

Yang Jiechi: South Africa is known as the "Rainbow Nation". Every time I visit South Africa, I am deeply impressed with its breathtaking scenery, diverse cultures of unique charm, and the warm hospitality of the South African people. More importantly, I am always heartened to see new changes in South Africa. In recent years, under the leadership of President Zuma, the South African Government has pursued a policy of national reconciliation, committed itself to growing the economy and improving people's livelihood and enhanced its international standing and regional influence. I sincerely wish the South African people greater strides in the path of national development.

My visit this time is for the main purpose of comparing notes with the South African side with regards to the preparations for the FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) Summit in Johannesburg this December and having an in-depth discussion on the arrangements and deliverables of President Xi Jinping's visit to South Africa. We wish to work together with South Africa to translate the important agreement reached by our two presidents into concrete actions and specific programs and make the summit and the visit a complete success.

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the founding of the FOCAC. How do you evaluate the past 15 years' development of FOCAC? As we all know, the upcoming summit is the first FOCAC summit held on African soil. What is the significance of this summit for China-Africa cooperation, and what outcomes can we expect from the summit?

Since the inception of FOCAC 15 years ago, China and Africa have had fruitful cooperation across the board. Political mutual trust has grown significantly. The two sides understand and support each other on matters involving each other's core interests and major concerns, thus upholding the common interests of China, Africa and the developing world. Our practical cooperation has progressed in leaps and bounds, delivering tangible benefits to both the Chinese and African people. Statistics show that in 2014, trade between China and Africa exceeded $220 billion and China's investment stock in Africa surpassed $30 billion, an increase of 22 and 60 times respectively over the figures in 2000 when FOCAC was just established. Moreover, the share of China-Africa trade in Africa's total foreign trade has increased from 3.82 percent to 20.5 percent.

What is particularly noteworthy is China's commitment to helping Africa break the two development bottlenecks of underdeveloped infrastructure and lack of human resources. The efforts have already made a big difference. By June 2015, over 3,800 km of railway and 4,334 km of road had been either built or under construction in Africa with Chinese financing. More than 200 schools of various kinds have been established with Chinese assistance or financing. The Chinese Government provides Africa with more than 7,000 government scholarships each semester and holds over 100 multilateral and bilateral technical and management training programs and senior officials' workshops for Africa each year.

FOCAC has proven to be an important platform for collective dialogue between China and African countries and an effective mechanism for enhanced practical cooperation. As such, FOCAC is very much welcomed by all parties and has indeed become a banner for promoting China-Africa unity and cooperation and leading international cooperation on Africa.

As far as the African countries are concerned, they have the common desire to accelerate industrialization and agricultural modernization in a bid to realize economic independence and self-reliant, sustainable development. After more than 30 years of reform, opening up and rapid development, China has developed a large number of competitive industries and accumulated strong production capacities. This puts us in a better position to work with other countries to achieve win-win development based on complementarity of strengths. In other words, given their respective strengths, China and Africa are each other's opportunity and need each other for cooperation and development. Convened against such a background, the FOCAC Summit, the first of its kind to be held on the African continent, will have great and far-reaching significance for boosting comprehensive transformation and upgrading of China-Africa relations and promoting more balanced, inclusive and sustainable development of the world.

In his first visit to Africa in 2013, President Xi put forth the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith to guide our relations with Africa, and called for taking a right approach to justice and interests. The fundamental purpose is to closely combine efforts to help Africa achieve economic independence, self-reliance and sustainable development with China's own development, and achieve win-win cooperation and common development. China and Africa will seize this rare historical opportunity of the summit, fully leverage their advantages of political mutual trust and economic complementarity and step up mutually beneficial cooperation in the five priority areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, health, people-to-people exchanges and peace and security. We believe that this summit, through its new plans, new blueprint and new momentum for China-Africa cooperation, will send to the rest of the world a strong message of China and Africa working together for win-win cooperation and common development and usher in a new prospect of development to people in China, Africa and beyond.

China, in the spirit of equal-footed consultation and joint preparation for the summit, stands ready to work with South Africa and the other 50 FOCAC members on the African side to make the summit in Johannesburg a historic gathering that will strengthen China-Africa unity and lead China-Africa cooperation to the future, thus writing a new chapter for China-Africa relations.