Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s recent development and cooperation “safari” to Africa leaves no room for Western negativity.

During stops in Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya, Li announced a series of initiatives designed to convince Africans that Chinese involvement would be of benefit to their countries. The premier identified six key areas of focus, including poverty reduction, environmental protection, people-to-people exchanges, financial cooperation and peace and security - a proposal regarded as the “upgraded version” of all-around Sino-African cooperation. It was a clear indication that China is adjusting its engagements in Africa to include more sectors outside of the traditional infrastructure and energy industries. Using the vehicles of trade, investment and aid, China aims to help African countries grow beyond just being resource suppliers.

During his Africa tour, Li set the target of doubling the bilateral trade volume to top $400 billion and pushing China’s cumulative direct investment in Africa from $25 billion to $100 billion by 2020. Speaking at the China-funded AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Li pledged that more than half of China’s foreign aid will go to Africa, and China will increase its lending to African countries by $10 billion, reaching a total of $30 billion.

He also pledged China will help Africa construct three major networks of railway, expressway and regional aviation, which will facilitate non-resource oriented economic activity in the form of much-needed connectivity the region desperately requires to improve trade, save travel times and reduce freight costs.

Seeing themselves as a community of interlinked destinies, China and Africa have always viewed each other’s development as a shared opportunity, and they each seek to promote the other’s development and prosperity through closer cooperation. This is the essence of the symbiotic relationship between the “Chinese and African dreams.”

Li’s field investigation shows that China is committed to connecting its development with that of Africa, and combining China’s development opportunities with those of Africa. China hopes to see faster development in African countries and a better life for African people.

But the premier has acknowledged there have been some “growing pains” or problems that are inevitable during the development of relations across borders. In the future, the Chinese Government will need to explore new ways to ensure that Chinese companies in Africa are responsive to the employment, environmental, financial, and technological requirements of individual African countries and the continent as a whole.

As a community of both shared destinies and opportunities, China and Africa are bound to develop on the right track and ultimately, through their actions, not only prosper in tandem, but also dispel the Western critics who continue to misguidedly vilify a relationship cast in stone.

THE EDITOR