In September, Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's parliament, makes his way to Nigeria and Kenya, further enhancing Sino-Nigerian and Sino-Kenyan relations. Recently, Deng Boqing, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, took time to speak with ChinAfrica and share his thoughts on current China-Nigeria and Sino-African relations. Excerpts follow:

ChinAfrica: What signals do the recent frequent visits to Africa by China's senior leadership send to the outside world?

Deng Boqing: These visits show that China's current leaders greatly appreciate the importance of relations with Africa. Their attitude is based on many factors. First, China's development will require Africa to play a part. During his recent visit to Africa, Xi said that China and Africa have always shared a destiny. China is grateful for African countries' assistance during its times of adversity, decades ago. Since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), more than a decade ago, China has fostered even closer ties with Africa. China needs Africa's cooperation to play a bigger role in international affairs as well as to achieve breakthroughs in its own socio-economic development.

At the same time, Africa needs China; the continent still lags behind other regions in terms of economic development. African countries need capital and technical support and assistance from China to upgrade their infrastructure, as well as to solve problems restricting their economic development.

Development of the ties between China and Africa will not only benefit the Chinese and African people but also contribute to world peace and stability.

What fields do you think have shown the greatest momentum since China established diplomatic relations with Nigeria on February 10, 1971?

The development of Sino-Nigerian relations is a good example of the ties between China and Africa. Politically, senior leaders from the two countries have frequently visited each other. During President Jonathan's recent visit to China, he headed a delegation of 14 cabinet ministers, four governors and many businessmen, and held successful discussions with President Xi.

In terms of economic ties, annual bilateral trade between China and Nigeria surpassed $10 billion in both 2011 and 2012. Fields showing the greatest potential for cooperation include telecommunications and Internet infrastructure. Nigeria is China's primary export destination for whole telecommunication satellites. Thanks to satellites imported from China, Nigeria became the seventh country in the world with a satellite navigation system, a fact that makes many Nigerians proud.

In terms of culture, Nigeria is the first African country to open a culture center in China, and a Chinese culture center in Nigeria will be unveiled soon.

According to surveys conducted by the BBC, for the last three years, Nigeria has been the country with the most positive views of China. Nigerians' views on China are far more positive than their views on Western countries. The mutual goodwill of the nations' two peoples have further consolidated and promoted the growth of bilateral relations.

In terms of bilateral cooperation, what fields do you think need to be strengthened?

Bilateral cooperation covers various areas, ranging from telecommunication satellites and infrastructure construction to joint marine research projects and providing Internet service.

Potential for further cooperation exists in the following areas: First, Nigeria could enlarge its exports to China to narrow its bilateral trade deficit. Last year, the volume of bilateral trade between China and Nigeria stood at $10.6 billion, of which around $9.3 billion was China's exports to Nigeria. Nigeria could export more agricultural products to China, while Chinese companies should seek more cooperation opportunities in oil drilling and processing industries in Nigeria.

Second, the two countries should enhance their cooperation to develop Nigeria's agriculture. Nigeria has a great deal of arable land, with a total of 79 million hectares and nearly half is not used.

Third, China could help Nigeria with its industrial development. China has relatively advanced industrial equipment, production lines and technologies and these could be used to develop Nigeria's manufacturing industries and improve its overall industrial level.

Fourth, Nigeria's growth has hit a bottleneck due to its insufficient infrastructure. The infrastructure construction campaigns in Nigeria, as well as other African countries, have given foreign companies, including Chinese companies, a lot of business opportunities.

What lessons do you think the West African region can draw from the Sino-Nigerian cooperation model?

Nigeria accounts for 60 percent of both the population and economic scale of West Africa's 15 countries. Fruitful Sino-Nigerian cooperation alone would mean a great step forward for China's cooperation with West Africa.

Countries in West Africa have a lot in common in terms of their national conditions and economic development levels. As a matter of fact, some successful aspects of Sino-Nigerian cooperation could be copied in China's cooperation with West Africa. During Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Li Jinzao's visit to West Africa last year, he reached consensus with local leaders on strengthening China's cooperation with this region. I believe that China could develop bilateral national cooperation with every single country in West Africa, as well as strengthen cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States.

Media organizations from the West have accused China of pursuing so-called "neo-colonialism" in Africa. What are your thoughts?

First, we need to understand the true meaning of colonialism. Colonialists did not only plunder African countries' wealth, but also looted their cultural heritage, occupied their land and even sold African people as slaves. Many lives were destroyed by colonialists.

Now, some people simplify this concept down to purchasing raw materials from Africa at low prices and selling final products to Africa at higher prices. Chinese people thus have been mistakenly accused of being "neo-colonists" as they both buy and sell goods in Africa.

These accusers fail to realize that trade has brought different countries and regions closer as globalization advances. Multinationals are constantly looking for places to purchase raw materials at the lowest prices, build manufacturing facilities in countries with lowest labor costs, sound market environments and progressive government incentives, and seek to sell their products around the world. If selling and buying in the same region make a country a "neo-colonialist," we could say that the United States has pursued "neo-colonialism" in China.

Moreover, China is paying much higher prices for raw materials from Africa compared to the period when large parts of Africa were colonized by Western countries.

Many Nigerian football players are playing on professional teams in China, and each has his own Chinese fan base. How can this type of people-to-people communication benefit bilateral relations?

People-to-people communication is the cornerstone of sound official relations, and sports are an important aspect of these exchanges. The Nigerian national football team has long made a name for itself among Chinese football lovers as one of the most formidable teams in Africa. It is natural that Nigerian football players in China have a large number of local fans.

As a matter of fact, the two countries' exchanges in culture, education, sports, movies, TV and other media industries have greatly helped people from both sides to understand each other. This could profoundly boost official bilateral relations in the long run. CA