Jointly Promote the Global Security Initiative and
Implement the Spirit of the FOCAC Beijing Summit
—— Speaking at 15th Somalia Studies International Association Congress
Mogadishu, December 16, 2024
President of the China-Africa Institute (CAI) Ye Hailin
Dear Excellency President Hassan Sheikh Mahmud,
Dear Mr. President Hassan Osman Gaal,
Dear Somali research experts and scholars from all over the participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning, everyone！I am Ye Hailin, President of the China-Africa Institute(CAI). My colleagues and I are very happy and honored to be invited to attend this conference. First of all, please allow me, on behalf of the China-Africa Institute and Chinese scholars who committed to Somalia studies, to congratulate the successful convening of this conference and wish the conference fruitful results.
In September this year, China and African countries jointly held Beijing Summit on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Excellency President Mahmud attended the summit. During the meeting, China and Somalia presidents jointly announced that two countries will upgrade bilateral relations into strategic partnership and will jointly promote the building of an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era. As a participant in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit, I have witnessed the fruitful results of the Summit and broad consensus reached. In his speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out that China and Africa account for one third of the worlds total population. Without the modernization of China and Africa, there would be no modernization of the world. China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future. We are closely linked by our common historical experiences, common development tasks and common strategic interests. In the process of modernization, both China and Africa were forced to become the bearers of the spillover cost of the modernization process driven by colonialism. After political independence, they are also faced with the historical task of achieving economic autonomy and realizing modernization. Helping each other is a natural choice for those with a similar destiny.
In recent years, the level of Global South cooperation, including China and Somalia, and China and Africa, has risen to a new historical level, and the modernization process of China and Africa has received strong support from each other,both sides have provided great development opportunities for each other. China’s modernization cannot be separated from the modernization of Africa, and the modernization of the Global South can not also be separated from China’s modernization.The peaceful nature of China’s rising and the mutual needs of the Global South determine the mutually beneficial nature of cooperation. To jointly build modernization is not a unilateral gift, nor a simple transaction, but an inevitable choice cultivated in the common historical process, which has a far-reaching value of reshaping the international pattern and the meaning of the evolution of the world era.
Modernization is never a simple economic concept. For any country to promote modernization, it first needs to establish a stable domestic environment and strive to obtain the support of the external environment. Security is the premise of development, and development is a necessary means to achieve security. In today’s world, the global peace deficit, security deficit, trust deficit and governance deficit are increasing. President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Security Initiative in his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022. This initiative was put forward at the historical window of the inflection point in the evolution of the international pattern. It is China to judge the security needs of our times and effectively solve the global security dilemma. Together with the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, it constitutes the core proposition of China to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.
At present, the international situation is changing fundamentally, regional conflicts are becoming more and more intense, the global security mechanism is further disabled and ineffective, security anxiety is throughout all fields, and the lack of security has become a common perception in the current international community. In order to ease security anxiety, China put forward the "Global Security Initiative" . The Global Security Initiative is guided by the concept of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, follows mutual respect, takes security as an important principle, and building a security community as its long-term goal. The Global Security Initiative aims to answer the international community on how to maintain world peace, and prevent conflict and war, a major issue concerning the future and future of mankind. It is a global governance plan proposed by China as a responsible major country to address international security challenges. The Global Security Initiative focuses on maintaining the international environment of diverse and peaceful coexistence; building the international mechanism of regional leadership and multilateral coordination; and upholding the international concept of putting development first and mutual benefit.
In promoting the Global Security Initiative, China attaches great importance to cooperation with Africa. At the FOCAC Beijing Summit, President Xi Jinping announced ten partnership actions that China will take with Africa in the next three years. The tenth "Security Partnership Action" focuses on the security sector. China is ready to establish a partnership with Africa to implement the Global Security Initiative, build demonstration zones for initiative cooperation, provide free military assistance, train military personnel and police and law enforcement personnel, and invite young military officers to visit China. We will carry out joint exercises and training and joint patrols for the Chinese and African forces.
Somalia has the longest coastline of the African continent, and its geographical location is very important. The security and stability of Somalia is an irreplaceable part of the security of East Africa, the maritime security in the Indian Ocean and even the overall security of Africa. China will continue to support Somalia to maintain national unity, social stability, domestic security, support Somalia to make greater efforts in regional security affairs, and is willing to work with Somalia friendly neighbors, the African Union, all African countries and the all builders and defenders concerned about the Somalia security from whole world. Not long ago, China made strategic arrangements for further deepening reform and comprehensively promoting Chinese-style modernization, which will bring more opportunities for development and cooperation to African countries, including Somalia. China is ready to work with Somalia, under the guidance of the heads of two state, tap the potential of cooperation, expand development space, strengthen multilateral coordination, advance hand in hand on the road of modernization, push for more new achievements in bilateral relations and bring more benefits to the two peoples.
China-Africa Institute as China’s highest level of African research think-tank and China-African studies academic main community, shoulder the mission to promote China-Africa academic exchanges and governing experience mutual learning, we would like to work with the National University of Somalia to promote the development of Somalia research around the world. China-Africa Institute will be very honored to be devoted into Somalia research and to make new contributions for the friendly cooperation between the two peoples.
Congratulations once again on the successful outcome of this meeting. I wish you all health and happiness!