The Chinese embassy in South Africa held a press briefing on Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's recent visit to Ethiopia, the African Union Headquarters, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya, and the Year of South Africa in China at the embassy building in Pretoria, South Africa on May 14, 2014.
The embassy, based in Pretoria, introduced their first ever spokesperson Counsellor Wei Xin to the media on May 14, at a press briefing to report back on Premier Li Keqiang's recent four country Africa visit.
Wei said the highlights of this visit could be summarized as "three poles, three networks, three 'No's, four principles, six areas and one platform." (see below).
Wei said that Premier Li referred to Africa as an important pole in the world politics, a new pole in global economic growth and a colorful pole in human civilization. She explained that this is China's viewpoint of Africa's international standing and conveys a strong signal that China attaches great significance to Africa, affirms the promising prospects of Africa and is ready to join hands with Africa to create a better future.
She said that Premier Li proposed to work with Africa to build "three networks," namely the high-speed railway, expressway and regional aviation networks to boost connectivity on the continent, help Africa accelerate industrialization and improve the ability to develop by itself.
During Premier Li's eight-day visit, China signed nearly 60 documents of cooperation in political field, economy and trade, culture, health, agriculture and personnel training and other fields.
Wei explained that China will work with Africa to grow China-Africa trade volume to $400 billion and China's direct investment in Africa to $100 billion by 2020. China has also decided to provide an additional $10 billion credit line to African countries, raising the total amount of promised credit to $30 billion. China will also put another $2 billion into the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund) to raise it to $5 billion, and provide a grant of $10 million to Africa to help better protect Africa's wildlife.
In addition to briefing media on Premier Li's visit, Wei also shed more light on the Year of South Africa in China, taking place this year. The activities opened in China on April 29, 2014 and South Africa will hold more than 50 activities in China during the year. Screening of the film Long Walk to Freedom, on the life of Nelson Mandela, will be one of the highlights of the year's planned events. The Year of China in South Africa will be celebrated in 2015.
The Chinese embassy in South Africa introduced a spokesperson mechanism to enhance exchange and understanding between the embassy, local communities and the media.
As the first spokesperson, counsellor Wei said she will release information on China-South Africa and China-Africa relations, as well as China's policies, through the embassy's website, hold press conferences and news briefings, receive interviews and answer questions sent to her electronically.
Jargon explained:
* Three "No"s principles are: No political strings attached; non-interference in the internal affairs of recipient African countries, and never asking something impossible of Africa
* Four principles proposed guiding China-Africa cooperation are: treating each other sincerely and equally, enhancing solidarity and mutual trust, jointly pursuing inclusive development and innovating on practical cooperation."
* Six areas are the focus of China-Africa cooperation to forge an upgraded version of bilateral cooperation, including cooperation in industry, finance, poverty reduction, ecological protection, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.
* One platform refers to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Next year it will mark FOCAC's 15th anniversary and the sixth ministerial conference of FOCAC will be held in South Africa.
(Reporting from South Africa)
