HE Wenping, A Sino-African Community of Shared Future and Major-Country Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics
Global Review, No.4, 2018
ABSTRACT:
The 19th CPC National Congress Report has articulated that major-country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics aims to foster a new type of international relations and build a community with a shared future for mankind. The development of China-Africa cooperation in the recent decade has been one of the hallmarks of China’s major-country diplomacy. The formulation of
“sincerity, pragmatism, affinity, and honesty” has paved way for China to forge closer collaboration with Africa. Moreover, the Ten Initiatives for China-Africa Cooperation put forward by China has yielded win-win results in South-South cooperation. Looking ahead, the author proposes a two-pronged (political and economic) road map for closer Sino-African cooperation. On the one hand, China and African states should build broad-based political consensus and share best practices in statecraft and governance. On the other hand, the two sided should further increase economic ties by jointly advancing the Belt and Road Initiative. Three areas of cooperation deserve special attention and intensified efforts: 1) technology transfer, talent training, and job creation must be giving priority in Africa’s industrialization; 2) financing services should be tilted toward African small and mid-sized enterprises; and 3) emphasis should be placed on infrastructure projects’ sustainability.