Development Archives - Friends of Socialist China

China’s poverty alleviation: lessons to study and obstacles to global poverty reduction

Concluding his series of articles on his recent visit to China at the invitation of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), David Peat, Secretary of Friends of Socialist China Britain Committee, was requested to write a paper on the topic of China’s poverty reduction, and its impact globally, including any possible application to the writer’s home country and local conditions, in connection with the ‘Path to Modernisation: Takeaways from China’s Theory and Practice of Poverty Alleviation’ conference which took place in Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, in July 2026.

In his paper, David charts the world-historic achievement of China’s poverty alleviation and notes how Global South countries in particular are paying close attention and applying what lessons they deem appropriate for their national conditions from China’s experiences. The paper goes on to contrast this achievement to the resurgent and under-reported levels of poverty in the “developed” western countries. He emphasises that the primary global obstacle to achieving sustainable poverty alleviation in any country (Global South or North) remains US-led imperialism, and even the best-intentioned and best practice examples can be undermined or even reversed by US economic and military action. As such, Global South nations seeking lessons from China’s experience should also recognise that the foundation of its success has been built fundamentally on the basis of its own hard-won political and economic sovereignty. Though China was able to achieve this sovereignty through its successful revolution, that is not necessarily the only path for other countries to do likewise, and newly emerging forms of alternative global development infrastructure, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), BRICS+, and others, can be successfully utilised, in collaboration with the demands of their own citizens, to forge new development paths, not dependent on (or subjugated by) the imperialist-dominated system.

The earlier articles in the series reported from Gansu, where poverty alleviation was examined in theory and practice, and from Ningxia, where the Global South gathered to study China’s ‘Long March’ to abolish absolute poverty.

China’s exports support Global South development

In the following article, which was originally published by the South China Morning Post and is reproduced here from the Center for China and Globalization (CCG) in Beijing, Zhou Xiaoming takes issue with western narratives that allege that China’s exports are stifling the development of the rest of the Global South. On the contrary, he argues that China’s export portfolio constitutes a positive-sum diffusion of industrial growth.

Zhou enjoins us to “look at the sector where you would expect the fiercest head-to-head competition – labour-intensive consumer goods. If China were truly monopolising the export space of others, its share would be stable or climbing. In reality, it is falling. China’s share of global garment exports fell to just under 30 per cent in 2024, a significant drop from its peak of over 40 per cent about a decade ago.”

China, he continues, “is not shipping goods to outcompete Global South producers; it is shipping the building blocks that make factories viable. According to an Oxford Economics report, nearly half of China’s total exports are intermediate goods – components and raw materials that feed into other countries’ production lines rather than finished products for consumers.

“Take Southeast Asia. Customs data from the first half of 2026 shows China’s intermediate goods exports to Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states rocketed 24.5 per cent year on year to 2.86 trillion yuan. These kinds of inputs help Vietnamese electronics assemblers, Thai auto-part makers and Malaysian chip packagers produce and export their own finished goods. This is deep integration.”

He continues: “Beyond components, there are capital goods. China’s enabling role also comes into play here. For decades, a major barrier to industrialisation was the staggering cost of capital equipment. Today, Chinese-made industrial machinery is dramatically more affordable… As Chinese capital and equipment are building industrial capacity across the Global South, China is turning itself into the ‘mother machine’ of the industrialising world, transforming technology and production know-how that Western development aid never delivered.”

He concedes that, “Yes, China runs surpluses with multiple developing nations. But look closer. Take Vietnam for instance. Its 2025 trade deficit with China stood at around US$115 billion. Yet imports of capital and intermediate goods tell the real story. In 2025, capital goods such as computers, electronics, and machinery accounted for over half of its total imports. Vietnam’s deficit is a receipt for industrialisation.”

Whilst, “we are witnessing a historic reorganisation of global production – one that offers developing nations their first genuine shot at industrialisation without waiting for Western handouts… China’s exports pose a challenge to sectors such as automobile and home appliances in South Africa and Brazil. However, China’s exports are primarily the scaffolding on which other Global South countries are erecting their own industrial futures. Tear that scaffolding down, as some want, and you deprive scores of developing economies of a route out of underdevelopment.”

He also reminds us to look at imports: “China is the top export destination for 79 countries and regions. In May, it expanded its zero-tariff import policy to 53 African countries. Painting China as a threat to development ignores how Beijing is widening its doors to products from the Global South.”

He concludes: “Western critiques are rather paternalistic, assuming developing nations are passive victims, incapable of making rational choices about their own trade relationships. That condescension, echoing the ‘white man’s burden’, is the real obstacle to the Global South’s prosperity.”

China-Africa solidarity and cooperation in action

China’s Xinhua News Agency has recently published a number of articles outlining some of the practical ways in which China has been contributing to development and improving people’s livelihood across the countries of southern and central Africa, drawing appreciation from the presidents of Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the vice presidents of Tanzania and Uganda, as well as building on the success of the Namibian president’s recent state visit to China.

Mozambique

On August 3, a groundbreaking ceremony for the China-aided National Surgical Centre Project was held in the Mozambican capital Maputo. The complex will be built within Maputo Central Hospital and will include a surgical centre building and two utility buildings, with a total floor area of more than 20,000 square metres. The eight-storey facility will also house emergency and trauma services, a medical imaging department, a pharmacy, laboratories, 14 operating rooms, a 19-bed intensive care unit and 456 inpatient beds.

Addressing the ceremony, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo said the groundbreaking marked the beginning of a new stage in Mozambique’s capacity to save lives and treat complex diseases, enabling more Mozambicans to access specialised medical care within their own country.

Describing Mozambique and China as brotherly countries, Chapo said the Mozambican government hopes to work with the Chinese government to end the need for Mozambicans to travel abroad in search of better medical treatment.

A feature published by Xinhua on July 28 highlighted the 50th anniversary of cooperation between China and Mozambique in the field of health care.

On April 15, 1976, the first batch of 29 Chinese medical experts arrived in Mozambique, planting the seed for an enduring partnership that has since blossomed beyond clinical care to include medical training, technology transfer, emergency response, and healthcare infrastructure development.

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Mozambican Minister of Health Ussene Isse said that bilateral health cooperation has achieved positive results over the past five decades. The dispatch of Chinese medical teams, in his eyes, is “not merely a medical cooperation project, but a history of solidarity and a partnership that has remained steadfast across generations despite changes in the international environment.”

Over the past 50 years, China has sent 383 medical professionals in 26 teams to Mozambique, where they have treated approximately 1.4 million patients.

Apart from providing medical services, Isse noted that Chinese medical teams have helped build local capacity by training Mozambican healthcare professionals in fields including surgery, anesthesiology, and traditional Chinese medicine, while introducing advanced technologies such as telemedicine and laparoscopic surgery at Maputo Central Hospital.

South Africa

On July 31, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed growing China-South Africa cooperation in clean energy, saying the participation of Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Goldwind in the Ummbila Emoyeni Wind Farm project demonstrates how bilateral partnerships are supporting the country’s just energy transition.

Addressing the launch of commercial operations of the 155-megawatt (MW) wind farm in Mpumalanga Province, Ramaphosa said South Africa welcomes Chinese companies’ participation in the country’s renewable energy development.

He added that South Africa’s future energy mix will combine coal, wind, hydropower, nuclear, solar, gas and other emerging technologies to ensure energy security while advancing decarbonisation. “South Africa’s future energy system will draw on the strengths and resources we already possess while embracing new opportunities.”

Chinese Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng said: “It has been proven in practice that Chinese enterprises are not merely visitors from afar, but partners deeply rooted in South Africa. More and more Chinese enterprises are contributing to South Africa’s development.”

Zimbabwe

On the same day, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed Chinese investment in lithium processing as key to maximising the value of the country’s mineral resources.

In a speech read on his behalf by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga at the opening of the Mining, Engineering and Transport Expo in Bulawayo, Mnangagwa commended China’s Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt for building Zimbabwe’s first lithium sulphate plant in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East Province. He also praised other Chinese-invested companies for pushing lithium beneficiation, including Sinomine’s subsidiary Bikita Minerals, which is also building a lithium sulphate plant in Bikita, Masvingo Province.

“Once set up, the plants will result in Zimbabwe being the only nation in Africa to host multiple lithium-processing operations,” Mnangagwa said. Zimbabwe had long derived limited benefits from supplying raw minerals to global markets, but “that narrative is changing”.

Zimbabwe, Africa’s major lithium producer, has seen significant investment in its lithium sector in recent years due to growing global demand for the mineral, which is critical to the global energy transition.

On July 23, it was announced that Zimbabwe has officially joined the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), which will unlock crucial credit and funding opportunities for the country.

Established in 2014 by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the NDB officially began operations in 2015, with a mission to mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS member nations and other emerging-market economies and developing countries. Zimbabwe applied to join the bank in 2023, with formal accession negotiations progressing earlier this year. The country has also formally applied to join the BRICS group.

And on July 24, the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe hosted a reception to celebrate the 99th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding said the profound friendship between China and Zimbabwe was forged in the national liberation struggle, giving rise to strong revolutionary bonds between the two countries. He noted that a Zimbabwean veterans’ delegation recently visited China to retrace their revolutionary steps, further consolidating the ties between the two nations.

Commander General of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Emmanuel Matatu expressed his congratulations on the PLA’s 99th anniversary. He noted the coincidence that both militaries celebrate their milestones in August — the PLA marks its 99th anniversary on August 1, while the ZDF celebrates its 46th anniversary on August 11. Matatu also expressed gratitude for China’s unwavering support since the liberation war. “For the ZDF, the PLA has always been a reliable partner in our development,” he said, adding that the ZDF looks forward to further nurturing and cherishing this all-weather relationship for generations to come.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

On July 29, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi inaugurated a Chinese-built water treatment plant in Kamina, capital of the southern province of Haut-Lomami.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, DRC Minister of Hydraulic Resources and Electricity Aime Sakombi Molendo said the project would help improve living and public health conditions for local residents and would bolster the country’s drinking water treatment capacity.

The project was financed by Sino Congolaise des Mines, a joint venture between the DRC state mining company Gecamines and a group of Chinese companies.

Underlining the importance of such projects, it was reported in the same week that more than 400 million Africans still lack access to basic drinking water, while over 700 million people across the continent remain without safely managed sanitation.

On August 1, China’s third medical expert team for Ebola response arrived in Kinshasa, capital of the DRC, to support the country’s efforts to strengthen its defences against the epidemic.

Luku Maleyo Marius, a representative of the DRC health ministry, welcomed the team at the airport. He said the Ebola situation in the DRC remained severe and response efforts continued to face considerable pressure. The arrival of the Chinese experts would provide strong support for epidemic surveillance, patient treatment and laboratory testing.

On August 4, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing said that with the Ebola outbreak still spreading, China will continue to assist African countries and provide the support needed to bring an early end to the outbreak.

The third medical expert team is composed of experts in epidemiology, health quarantine, clinical treatment, and pathogen laboratory testing. Building on the work of the previous teams, it will continue to strengthen exchanges and coordination with the DRC and international organisations in light of the needs of epidemic prevention and control.

Namibia

On July 29, Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping said at a press briefing that China will work with Namibia to translate the outcomes of President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s recent state visit to China into concrete cooperation.

During the July 5-11 visit, the two countries elevated their relations to a China-Namibia community with a shared future for the new era and signed eight cooperation agreements.

Zhao noted that youth empowerment was given particular emphasis. Agricultural cooperation, which could help Namibia translate improved market access into export growth, was another major outcome. Cooperation will also extend to healthcare, including medical personnel training, disease control and emergency response, as well as the exploration of pharmaceutical production in Namibia.

Tanzania

On July 26, Tanzanian Vice President Emmanuel Nchimbi commended China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) for the significant progress made in building the Arusha Stadium, a key venue for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

During an inspection visit, Nchimbi praised both the quality of work and the pace of implementation, noting that the project has reached 88 percent completion and is on track for delivery by the end of August 2026.

AFCON 2027 will be jointly hosted by Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, marking the first time East African nations will co-host Africa’s premier football tournament.

Uganda

On July 23, Ugandan Vice President Jessica Alupo hailed the China-Uganda Agricultural Cooperation Industrial Park as a key driver of the country’s agricultural transformation through agro-processing.

Alupo made the remarks while leading a delegation of senior government officials on an assessment tour of the industrial park in the central Ugandan district of Luwero. She commended the FAO [UN Food and Agricultural Organisation]-China-Uganda South-South Cooperation initiative, under which the Chinese private sector-led industrial park was established, saying that it has enabled Uganda to process agricultural products for export to the world. Uganda stands to benefit further from China’s continued high-standard opening-up and its zero-tariff policy for eligible exports.

Luo Heng, chairman of Kehong Uganda Industrial Development Limited, the Chinese company managing the industrial park, said it plans to invest 500 million US dollars over the next five years as part of its second phase of development.

China – a true friend to World Cup heroes Cabo Verde

With the current 2026 Football World Cup being one of the most contentious in the history of the game due to the customarily outrageous behaviour of the US Trump administration, curtailing the movements of the Iranian team such that it has had to stay in Mexico between games in the US, denying visas to players, their family members, and referees from Global South countries, delaying their entry, detaining on arrival, subjecting them to enhanced screening including police dog inspections, and so on, there have nevertheless been some moments of joy and inspiration, not least in some brave performances from minnow teams from the Global South.

One such team has been that from Cabo Verde (Cape Verde), an island nation in West Africa of little over half a million people.

Cabo Verde drew 0:0 with Spain, tipped as cup winners, on June 15 and then, on June 21, drew 2:2 with Uruguay, a strong football nation. They will go up against Saudi Arabia on June 27.

Cabo Verde’s star goalkeeper Vozinha was one of those affected by the US administration’s policies. Financial constraints and the high visa cost were preventing his mother witnessing her son’s moments of glory.

This changed thanks to the generosity of Chinese businessman, Lin Jie, originally from Wenzhou, who has lived in Cape Verde for more than two decades. Global Times reported that prior to her departure, Ana Cándida Évora, the star’s mother who is a 59-year-old house cleaner, spoke with CGTN and expressed her gratitude to fans in China. She called China a “very good country and a friend of ours [people in Cape Verde].” She even specifically addressed the Chinese fans in Chinese, saying, “Thank you, Chinese fans.”

Vozinha’s happiness at his mother being able to join him is captured in this BBC clip.

However, China’s contribution to the success of the Blue Sharks, as the national team are known, does not start or end with Lin’s generosity.

Writing in Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post on June 17, Dulue Mbachu noted:

“On Monday, thousands of Cabo Verdeans poured out onto the streets of their capital, Praia, beating drums, blowing horns and dancing to celebrate the national football team’s shock draw against Spain at the World Cup… President Jose Maria Neves described it as a defining moment for the country, which became independent from Portugal in 1975.

“‘If today, 50 years later, we are at the World Cup, we have already proven that we are a viable nation,’ he wrote on Facebook, following the match in the US city of Atlanta.”

“Yet the story of the former colony’s footballing achievements is not complete without mentioning China’s role in building the country’s sports infrastructure.

“This included the 15,000-capacity Estadio Nacional de Cabo Verde, which was completed in 2014. The stadium was financed by Beijing and built by a Chinese state-owned contractor. This followed Cabo Verde’s first appearance at the African Cup of Nations in 2013, when the national team made it to the quarterfinals for the first time.”

He adds that China has built more than 100 sports arenas across the African continent over the past five decades:

“Ivory Coast, which is also competing at this edition of the World Cup, has three stadiums built with Chinese funding. It became the first African side to score a victory at this year’s tournament when it beat Ecuador by a single goal…

“Chinese aid also built stadiums in Angola before it hosted the Africa Cup of Nations in 2010.

“In Tanzania, China built the 60,000-capacity Benjamin Mkapa Stadium and is constructing another in the city of Arusha. In Uganda, the Mandela National Stadium was built with Chinese funding…

“Still, China’s stadium diplomacy appears to have achieved its most dramatic outcome in Cabo Verde… Apart from the national stadium, China has helped with several other construction projects, including the national legislative building, the main government offices in the capital and the Poilao Dam.”

A feature article carried by the Xinhua News Agency reports that the national stadium, “a space better known for hosting major competitions, has [also] become a regular training ground where local youth build both athletic skills and discipline.” For example, the judo program now has 28 regular trainees who practice there three times a week.

China issues detailed White Paper on global governance

China’s State Council Information Office released a white paper entitled “More Just and Equitable Global Governance: China’s Principles, Proposals and Actions” on June 17.

The paper presents a comprehensive exposition of China’s vision for reforming and improving global governance at a moment of profound global transformation. It underscores China’s longstanding commitment to multilateralism, fairness, and shared development, while calling on the international community to unite in building a more just and equitable global governance system. As the paper states, global governance “is a common endeavour that bears on the wellbeing of all humanity,” and the world must “uphold multilateralism, unite forces, and pursue a fair future.”

A World at a Crossroads

The white paper begins by assessing the severe and complex challenges confronting humanity. It notes that the world has entered “an era marked by profound change on a scale unseen in a century,” with geopolitical tensions, economic fragmentation, and emerging security risks converging to create unprecedented uncertainty. Armed conflicts have surged, with the number of active conflicts in 2025 reaching the highest level since World War II. Economic globalisation faces headwinds as some countries pursue protectionism, unilateral sanctions, and technological containment, undermining global supply chains and widening the development gap.

The paper warns that unilateralism and hegemonism threaten the international rule of law, citing actions by “a certain major power” that has withdrawn from international agreements, obstructed multilateral institutions, and weaponised economic and technological issues. Such behaviour, it argues, undermines the UN-centred international system and destabilises global order. The document stresses that the world must choose between “fairness and justice, or the law of the jungle,” urging all nations to reject power politics.

At the same time, the rise of the Global South is reshaping global governance. Developing countries now account for over 60 percent of the world economy (in Purchasing Power Parity [PPP] terms) and contribute 80 percent of global growth. Mechanisms such as BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and the G77 + China have become increasingly influential, reflecting the international community’s demand for greater representation, equity, and inclusiveness.

The Global Governance Initiative: China’s Answer to the Challenges of the Times

Against this backdrop, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) in 2025, offering China’s systematic response to the question of what kind of global governance system the world needs and how to reform it. The GGI is grounded in five core concepts: sovereign equality, the international rule of law, multilateralism, a people-centred approach, and real actions.

Sovereign Equality

The white paper emphasises that sovereign equality is the cornerstone of international relations. All countries—large or small, rich or poor—must have equal rights to participate in global governance. Major powers, it stresses, must set an example by refraining from coercion and interference. Only through equality can nations build the political trust necessary for solidarity and cooperation.

International Rule of Law

The document calls for strict adherence to the UN Charter, noting that global instability stems not from the Charter being outdated but from its principles not being effectively implemented. International law must be applied universally rather than selectively. The paper warns that without the rule of law, “anyone at the dining table today could appear on the menu tomorrow.”

Multilateralism

True multilateralism—rooted in consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits—is described as the only viable path for humanity. The UN must remain the central platform for global governance, and multilateral mechanisms should be strengthened rather than weakened.

A People-Centred Approach

Global governance must serve the wellbeing of all peoples. Development should be restored to the centre of the international agenda, the North-South divide must be bridged, and global challenges such as climate change and public health must be addressed through cooperation.

Real Actions

The GGI stresses practical, results-oriented cooperation. It calls for coordinated progress across governance agendas, addressing both symptoms and root causes, and enhancing synergy between North-South and South-South cooperation.

China’s Contributions to Global Governance

The white paper devotes extensive attention to China’s concrete actions in promoting global peace, development, and cooperation.

Championing Universal and Common Security

China upholds a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security. It fulfils its responsibilities as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and is the second-largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. More than 50,000 Chinese peacekeepers have served in 29 missions, and China maintains an 8,000-strong standby force.

China has played constructive roles in addressing international flashpoints:

Ukraine: China released its position paper on the political settlement of the crisis and, together with Brazil, launched the Group of Friends for Peace.

Palestine–Israel: China supported the first UN Security Council ceasefire resolution for Gaza since the outbreak of renewed conflict and facilitated Palestinian reconciliation efforts.

Middle East: China brokered the historic Saudi-Iran rapprochement and advanced regional peace initiatives.

Asia: China facilitated ceasefire agreements in northern Myanmar and contributed to resolving disputes in Southeast and South Asia.

China also leads global efforts against terrorism, transnational crime, drug trafficking, and cyber threats, and has taken pioneering steps such as scheduling the entire class of fentanyl-related substances.

Promoting Openness, Cooperation, and Shared Development

China stresses that its own development is inseparable from global development. It has become the main trading partner of over 160 countries and regions and continues to expand high-standard opening-up. The country has removed all restrictions on foreign investment in manufacturing, shortened negative lists, and created major platforms such as the China International Import Expo.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has entered a new stage of high-quality development. China has signed cooperation documents with more than 150 countries, and the China-Europe Railway Express has surpassed 130,000 trips. Trade between China and BRI partners reached RMB 23.6 trillion in 2025.

The Global Development Initiative (GDI) has mobilised over US$23 billion in development funds, launched more than 1,800 projects, and trained 80,000 people, helping developing countries enhance their capacity for independent development.

Practicing True Multilateralism

China is the second-largest contributor to the UN regular budget and supports the UN in implementing the Pact for the Future and the UN80 Initiative. It has helped establish new UN institutions in China and increased the presence of Chinese professionals in international organisations.

China also supports the International Organisation for Mediation (IoM), headquartered in Hong Kong, which provides a new mechanism for peaceful dispute resolution.

In the G20, China has championed development-centred cooperation and supported the African Union’s accession. In APEC, China promotes an Asia-Pacific community of shared future and will host the 2026 APEC meeting under the theme “Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together.”

Supporting the Global South

China positions itself as a natural member of the Global South and a steadfast partner in its development. It has advanced BRICS expansion, strengthened the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), and supported reforms to increase developing countries’ representation in global financial and governance institutions.

China has elevated relations with Africa to an all-weather community of shared future, deepened cooperation with Arab states, expanded partnerships with Latin America and the Caribbean, and supported Pacific Island countries through the “Four Fully Respects” principles.

Promoting Exchanges and Mutual Learning Among Civilisations

Through the Global Civilisation Initiative, China advocates equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness among civilisations. The UN General Assembly adopted China’s proposal to establish June 10 as the International Day for Dialogue Among Civilisations. China has hosted major cultural forums, expanded cultural cooperation with over 100 countries, and promoted youth exchanges.

China also plays an active role in global human rights governance, emphasising development-based and cooperation-oriented approaches.

Providing Global Public Goods

China has taken the lead in climate governance, pledging to peak carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. It has built the world’s largest renewable energy system and supplies 70 percent of global wind power equipment and 80 percent of photovoltaic panels.

China also advances global AI governance, supports WHO-centred global health cooperation, leads biodiversity protection through the Kunming-Montreal Framework, and promotes governance in cyberspace, oceans, and outer space.

Guiding the Direction of Change

The white paper argues that the GGI has gained broad support because it aligns with global trends toward multipolarity, inclusiveness, and multilateralism. China’s governance philosophy draws from the Communist Party of China’s global vision, China’s diplomatic traditions, and the heritage of Chinese civilisation, including ideals such as “great harmony under Heaven” and “the people are the foundation of the state.”

China’s four major global initiatives—Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilisation Initiative, and Global Governance Initiative—together form a comprehensive framework for addressing development, security, cultural exchange, and governance challenges, contributing to the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Moving Forward Together

The white paper concludes by calling on all countries to act in the long-term interests of humanity, rise to challenges with confidence, and unite in implementing the GGI. It stresses that global governance is a long-term endeavour requiring perseverance, solidarity, and concrete action. The UN must remain the core platform, and major countries must shoulder their responsibilities.

As the document states, “This is an era of challenges. But it is also one of hope.” China stands ready to work with all nations to let “the light of fairness and justice illuminate the world” and to build a brighter future for humanity.

Chinese hybrid rice brings new hope for bountiful harvests to Guinean farmers

China’s partnership with Africa is too often reduced and distorted, in the Western media, to a caricature of debt and extraction. The reality on the ground tells a very different story. In Guinea, as the Xinhua feature reprinted below describes, Chinese hybrid rice – the legacy of the late agronomist Yuan Longping – is helping farmers in Boffa Prefecture more than double their incomes and quadruple the area under modern cultivation, with yields reaching nine tonnes per hectare.

This is no isolated example. From the Gambia to Madagascar, Chinese agricultural teams have spent years working alongside local farmers, rehabilitating irrigation systems, transferring techniques and training thousands of growers in the pursuit of genuine food security. The emphasis throughout is on building local capacity rather than fostering dependency – precisely the kind of cooperation that the colonial and neo-colonial powers never offered.

Such projects are part of a far broader and deepening relationship. Under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Beijing has extended zero-tariff treatment to 53 African countries, opening the Chinese market to African exports, while the Belt and Road Initiative continues to finance the roads, railways, ports and power grids that decades of Western aid conspicuously failed to deliver.

For all the talk in Western capitals of a “new scramble for Africa”, it is China that treats African nations as equals and genuine partners in development. The humble bag of rice from Koba, stamped “Chinese Hybrid Rice, Made in Guinea”, is a fitting symbol of that friendship.

Chinese medical team helps Zimbabwe complete country’s first neuromodulation surgeries

A Chinese medical team has helped Zimbabwe carry out its first Deep Brain Stimulation and first Spinal Cord Stimulation surgeries – major neuromodulation procedures used to treat Parkinson’s, drug-resistant epilepsy, post-stroke rehabilitation and chronic pain. The Zimbabwean side led the operations, with Chinese surgeons providing technical support. The technology, developed by Tsinghua University and commercialised by Beijing PINS Medical, meets internationally advanced standards but is significantly cheaper than the US equivalents, making it genuinely deployable in African health systems.

The lead Zimbabwean neurosurgeon, Dr Nathaniel Zimani, captured its significance: “If China wasn’t there, we may get this technology 20 years from now. Because of this collaboration, we’ve advanced such medical technologies by 20 years in our country… It’s teaching us how to fish, than giving us fish.”

The work is being carried out with the help of the 23rd Chinese medical team sent to Zimbabwe since 1985, representing four decades of continuous medical cooperation, now part of the China-Zimbabwe “all-weather community with a shared future”, under which China has pledged to support Zimbabwe’s development and to oppose external interference and illegal sanctions.

It is worth setting this beside the West’s engagement with Zimbabwe over the decades. Britain ruled the country – then Rhodesia – through nearly a century of brutal settler-colonialism, dispossessing the Black majority and fighting a vicious war to prevent independence. When Zimbabwe finally won its liberation in 1980, and in the early 2000s reclaimed its land, the West responded with an illegal sanctions regime that inflicted enormous suffering. Two models of engagement, side by side: one built on plunder, white supremacy, colonialism and neocolonialism; the other on solidarity, development and knowledge transfer.

Jostein Hauge: This is why I’m Chinamaxxing

The following article by Jostein Hauge, political economist and an Associate Professor in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge, makes a clear and refreshing case for taking China’s achievements seriously. Hauge sets out the facts plainly – China’s unprecedented reduction of poverty, its leadership in clean energy, the scale and quality of its infrastructure, and its emergence as a counterweight to US hegemony – and insists that these gains are worth celebrating rather than treating, as so much Western commentary does, as a threat to be managed.

These are precisely the themes we explored in our recent webinar, Socialist Chinamaxxing: How China’s achievements are a product of its socialist system, which brought together speakers including George Galloway, Li Jingjing, Ben Norton, Danny Haiphong, Tings Chak, Chen Weihua, Ileana Chan, Keith Bennett and Qiao Collective to argue that China’s progress flows directly from its socialist system, and would not have been possible within a framework of capitalist rule.

We would, however, raise one friendly disagreement. Hauge writes that “China does not hold competitive national elections and practises considerable censorship”, and concludes that “China’s authoritarianism deserves real scrutiny”. In our view this concedes too much to the very liberal framework that the rest of his article so effectively challenges: the assumption that genuine democracy is defined by the Westminster parliamentary system, and that its absence amounts to “authoritarianism”.

This framing does not engage seriously with China’s socialist democracy. As we have argued, liberal democracy presents democracy as a purely procedural matter – periodic elections between rival capitalist parties – while obscuring the more fundamental question of which social class actually holds power. Meaningful democracy is not defined by what happens at the ballot box once every few years; it is about the ongoing participation of ordinary people in the running of society, and the degree to which the state is genuinely responsive to the needs of the majority. Measured this way – through its system of People’s Congresses combined with extensive structures of consultative democracy, and its consistent record of delivering for ordinary people – China’s socialist democracy can be considered to be more substantive than its Western counterparts, not less.

Xi Jinping has put the point sharply: a system in which “the people are awakened only at voting time and dormant afterward” is not true democracy.

China implements zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries

On 1 May this year, with the Trump administration continuing to wield tariffs as a weapon of economic coercion against much of the world, China did something historic: it granted zero-tariff access to its market of 1.4 billion people for all 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations (which is all African countries with the exception of Eswatini), with no conditions, political strings, or demand for reciprocal action.

This is not a sudden gesture but the culmination of a relationship with deep roots. For 35 consecutive years, China’s Foreign Minister has made Africa the first destination of their overseas travel at the start of each year. China championed the African Union’s entry into the G20. African countries were pivotal in restoring China’s lawful seat at the United Nations more than 50 years ago. China-Africa trade reached a record $348 billion in 2025. Chinese agricultural teams are helping Gambia achieve historic rice yields. Chinese engineers built West Africa’s first light rail, in Lagos. A new Africa CDC headquarters, built by China, now anchors the continent’s
public health infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, Western accusations of Chinese “neo-colonialism” in Africa ring hollow – and African leaders themselves have said so. Namibia’s president,
confronted by a German politician fretting about Chinese workers in his country, replied simply: “We will handle our own country.”

The Global Times editorial below sets out the significance of the new zero-tariff policy and what it represents for the China-Africa relationship and for the future of equitable global trade.

China will implement zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries that have diplomatic relations with it, starting May 1. This major policy initiative positions China as the first major economy in the world to grant unilateral and comprehensive zero-tariff treatment to all African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, as well as to all least developed countries that maintain diplomatic relations with China. This “unilateral and full-coverage” arrangement is not just a “subtraction” in tariffs, but also an “addition” for development, a “multiplication” for people’s livelihoods, and a “division” of arbitrary tariff impositions. From this, people can see China’s policy philosophy of sincerity, real results, amity, and good faith toward Africa, as well as its correct view of justice and interests.

Many years ago, at multilateral forums such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), China committed to gradually expanding tariff preferences for African countries to help them integrate into the global trading system. Starting in 2005 with zero-tariff treatment for certain products from the least developed countries in Africa, and granting zero-tariff treatment on 100 percent of tariff lines for least developed African countries by the end of 2024, as well as further extending the preference to all African countries with diplomatic relations with China by 2026, China has consistently fulfilled every commitment to Africa with steady and practical actions. Not once has it wavered due to global economic fluctuations. This commitment to “honoring its words with concrete actions” has not only solidified the foundation of mutual trust between China and Africa but also demonstrated the credibility of China as a responsible major country, setting an example for the international community in honoring promises and upholding integrity.

How China’s initiatives are paving a new path to a better world

The following article, originally published in Xinhua, provides an overview of the four major global initiatives proposed by President Xi Jinping over the last five years – the Global Development Initiative (GDI, 2021), the Global Security Initiative (GSI, 2022), the Global Civilisation Initiative (GCI, 2023) and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) – and discusses how these proposals link together to form a unified framework for building a community with a shared future for humanity, addressing, respectively, material development, peace and stability, cultural understanding, and institutional reform.

The article notes that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has described the initiatives as being “totally compatible with the UN Charter” and that they have attracted broad support from countries around the world, particularly the Global South.

The piece argues that systems of international cooperation are increasingly fractured by unilateralism, sanctions, protectionism and bloc confrontation, contrasting these trends with China’s emphasis on sovereign equality, dialogue and multilateralism. It highlights deepening global crises: development is in reverse in parts of the world, the poverty gap is widening, and security tensions are intensifying. The article states that progress toward the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals has stalled: only 35 percent of targets are on track, nearly half are moving too slowly, and 18 percent have regressed. It stresses worsening global inequalities, noting the poorest half of humanity holds only 2 percent of global wealth, billions face food insecurity exacerbated by conflicts, and climate-adaptation financing gaps are growing.

The article describes the GDI as a break from Western-dominated development models, emphasising China’s long-term planning combined with market dynamism. Projects funded by the Global Development and South-South Cooperation Fund in Nepal and major infrastructure cooperation such as the China-Laos Railway are cited as examples of China “teaching a man to fish”: the Laos railway cut logistics costs by over 30 percent and created 100,000 jobs, while China-Africa Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centres increased crop yields by 30-60 percent and benefited over a million farmers. Meanwhile, China-Brazil clean-energy cooperation centres are extending power access to remote communities, linking development to ecological protection.

The Global Governance Initiative, which was announced in September this year, proposes a program of global governance reform rooted in respect for sovereign equality, international rule of law, genuine multilateralism, adherence to the principles and purposes of the UN Charter, and a people-centred focus on employment, education and healthcare. China is turning these ideas into practice by supporting reforms in multilateral institutions, expanding BRICS and SCO cooperation, promoting South-South platforms such as FOCAC (Forum on China-Africa Cooperation) and the China-CELAC Forum, and advancing new governance norms in data security, AI, and cross-border data flows. The article notes China’s increased funding to the China-UN Peace and Development Fund, and highlights the creation of the International Organisation for Mediation headquartered in Hong Kong, established with more than 30 countries, as an example of security governance via law rather than force.

Li Qiang’s Zambia visit boosts revitalization of TAZARA railway

Following his visit to Russia, where he attended the 24th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), Chinese Premier Li Qiang paid an official visit to Zambia, November 19-20.

Arriving in the capital Lusaka, Li said that Zambia is the first country in Southern Africa to establish diplomatic ties with China, and the two countries share a profound tradition of friendship. Over the years, despite changes in the international landscape, China and Zambia have consistently respected, trusted and supported each other, jointly forging the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, including the Tanzania-Zambia Railway spirit.

He added that China stands ready to work with Zambia to carry forward the traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, promote mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples, and advance together on the path of modernisation.

Faced with a world of intertwined changes and chaos, China is willing to enhance multilateral communication and coordination with Zambia, stand united with the broad ranks of Global South countries, safeguard the international order as well as fairness and justice, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Li Qiang held talks with Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema on the day after his arrival. He first conveyed the cordial greetings and best wishes of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hichilema and said that China and Zambia are good brothers, good friends and good partners. Last year, the two countries celebrated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties, and President Xi met with President Hichilema during the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), drawing a new blueprint for the deepening and development of bilateral relations.

China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Zambia in areas related to people’s livelihood, such as healthcare, agriculture and human resources development, so as to enhance the two peoples’ sense of gain from bilateral cooperation, Li said, adding that the revitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is a shared aspiration of the peoples of China, Tanzania and Zambia, and the project is a landmark of high-quality development of Belt and Road cooperation.

At present, Li noted, unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, posing serious challenges to the international system and global economy. China and Zambia should strengthen multilateral coordination and cooperation, and work with the broad ranks of Global South countries to safeguard the international trade order, uphold fairness and justice, and defend their joint benefits.

President Hichilema noted that the time-honoured and ever-strengthening friendship between Zambia and China was forged by the older generations of leaders of the two countries, adding that he and President Xi have reached important consensus on deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries.

Burkina Faso assembles electric vehicles with help from China

Since Ibrahim Traoré came to power in 2022, the West African state of Burkina Faso has embarked on a path of independent economic development and diversification, stressing self-reliance and cooperation with fellow members of the Global South, and breaking the chains of neo-colonial exploitation, perpetrated by France in particular.

In this regard, People’s Dispatch, recently published an article, translated from the original Portuguese language publication by Brasil de Fato, on Burkina Faso’s first electric vehicle assembly plant, which began production in January 2025.

The country’s first electric vehicle has been named the Itaoua. The name is a tribute to a village near Ouagadougou, the country’s capital. The horse that illustrates the logo represents strength, prestige, and longevity.

The plant’s general director Abdoulatif Rouamba explained: “Production began in January 2025. Then we started selling Itaoua electric vehicles. We began with two entry-level models, the Itaoua Sahel and the Itaoua Native. Later we received other models, such as the Itaoua Tenakuru and the Itaoua Land Elder, which is a pickup truck. Today it’s possible to drive comfortably, at a low cost, and still protect the environment for future generations. Driving an Itawa electric vehicle is a direct contribution to this preservation.”

With technical support from China, the electric vehicles are assembled in Ouaga 2000, a district located 25 km from the capital. According to Rouamba, Burkinabé engineers were trained in Chinese factories and are now applying this knowledge on African soil. He states that at the moment, the brand only handles the assembly process, but that there is a “prospect of launching our own designs in the coming years”.

The director also values the partnership with the BRICS member countries. “We are working in a business environment with countries like China and Russia, within a win-win partnership logic. It’s not a collaboration model where we are exploited. Everyone gets their share. We are also involved in a technology transfer process. That’s why our technicians were trained abroad and today apply what they learned for the benefit of Itaoua, Burkina Faso, and Africa in general.”

Under the government of President Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso launched its first brand of domestically assembled electric cars, Itaoua. The name is a tribute to a village near Ouagadougou, the country’s capital. The horse that illustrates the logo represents strength, prestige, and longevity.

To learn about the models already available and understand how Itaoua has become a symbol of the industrial and sustainable transformation the country is experiencing, Brasil de Fato visited the company’s headquarters in Ouagadougou. The concessionaire’s general director, Abdoulatif Rouamba, recalls the beginning of this journey.

“Production began in January 2025. Then we started selling Itaoua electric vehicles. We began with two entry-level models, the Itaoua Sahel and the Itaoua Native. Later we received other models, such as the Itaoua Tenakuru and the Itaoua Land Elder, which is a pickup truck,” Rouamba explains.

“Today it’s possible to drive comfortably, at a low cost, and still protect the environment for future generations. Driving an Itawa electric vehicle is a direct contribution to this preservation,” he adds.

Li Qiang issues rallying call for development at UN

During his recent visit to New York to attend the 80^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also addressed a high-level meeting on the Global Development Initiative (GDI), proposed by China.

Held on September 23, the meeting was attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, Angolan President Joao Lourenco, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda Gaston Browne, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Nigerien Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, as well as ministerial-level officials from more than 30 countries and heads of international organisations.

In his speech, Li Qiang noted that: “Development is a timeless theme for human society. At its very inception, the United Nations embedded the promotion of global development into its Charter… The Global Development Initiative (GDI) put forward by President Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly in 2021 aims to advance the broadest common interests of all humanity.”

He said that a review of history shows that when countries worked together in solidarity for shared benefits, global development would advance steadily and everyone would gain; when zero-sum mentality reared its head and division and confrontation rose, global development would come to a halt, and everyone would lose. Saying that China stands ready to work with all parties to further implement the GDI, advance the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at a faster pace, and reinvigorate global development, he put forward four points as follows:

We need to foster a stable and open international environment for development. Peace and stability underpin development and prosperity; openness and cooperation sustain economic growth. Decoupling, severing supply chains and bloc confrontation would only hurt the global economy, disrupt global order and create greater risks.

We need to build balanced and universally beneficial partnerships for development. Behind the growing North-South development gap in recent years are the inequalities and inequity in rights, opportunities and rules. Certain developed countries are reluctant to fulfill their pledges of development financing, and even cut off funding to global development institutions, which has seriously undermined North-South cooperation.

We need to cultivate future-oriented drivers for innovation-driven development. At present, rapid advances in technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and big data are becoming a powerful driver of global development. We need to seize the opportunities to enhance international cooperation on scientific and technological innovation and oppose such moves as putting up walls and barriers and blocking the flow of technology.

We need to promote green and low-carbon development with greater sustainability. Climate change, environmental degradation and overconsumption of resources are major challenges facing the world. Development is in urgent need of a green transition. Climate and ecosystem know no borders, and homeland Earth should be jointly preserved.

He added that China will continue to strengthen scientific and technological cooperation to empower global development. Over the years, China has readily shared its scientific and technological innovation outcomes and advanced the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, to help countries across the Global South enhance digital and intelligence capabilities. In the next five years, China will establish a funding program dedicated to digital capacity-building within the Global Development Capital Pool to support the ‘Digital South’ initiative under the GDI. China will also initiate an International Alliance of Sustainable Development Satellites to provide solid support of space observation data for global development.

Largest ever gathering of SCO family held in Tianjin

On August 31-September 1, immediately prior to China’s grand celebration of the 80^th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, the north China coastal city of Tianjin, near to Beijing, hosted the 25th Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) followed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Plus meeting.

These were the biggest gatherings to date in the SCO’s quarter century history, drawing more than 20 heads of state or government, along with the heads of 10 international organisations, including the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

As we previously reported, at the latter meeting, President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), which aims at establishing “a more just and equitable global governance system and advancing toward a community with a shared future for humanity.”

Presiding over the SCO Summit, President Xi delivered an important statement entitled, “Staying True to SCO Founding Mission and Ushering in a Better Future.”

He said that the SCO has established itself as a model for a new type of international relations. The organisation was the first to set up a military confidence-building mechanism in its member states’ border areas and the first to take multilateral actions against the three forces of terrorism, separatism and extremism, thereby maintaining peace and tranquility in the region. The SCO was the first to launch Belt and Road cooperation, providing a robust driving force for development and prosperity and further improving the multidimensional connectivity network across the region. The SCO was the first to conclude a treaty on long-term good-neighbourliness, friendship and cooperation, and proclaim the member states’ commitment to forge lasting friendship and refrain from hostilities, bringing the hearts of the peoples closer to each other. The SCO was the first to put forth a vision of global governance featuring extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit as an effort to practice true multilateralism, thus becoming a proactive force for world peace and development.

President Xi emphasised that the SCO has grown into the world’s largest regional organisation, and its international influence and appeal are increasing day by day. Looking ahead, the member states should carry forward the Shanghai Spirit, forge ahead with solid steps, and better tap into the potential of the SCO in the following five ways:

Seeking common ground while putting aside differences. SCO member states should respect their differences, maintain strategic communication, build up consensus, and strengthen solidarity and collaboration.

Pursuing mutual benefit and win-win results. SCO member states need to better align their development strategies and promote the high-quality implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, improve trade and investment facilitation, enhance cooperation in such areas as energy, infrastructure, green industry, the digital economy, scientific and technological innovation, and artificial intelligence, so as to march toward modernisation hand in hand by bringing out the best in one another and working together for a shared future.

Championing openness and inclusiveness. SCO member states need to enhance mutual understanding and friendship through people-to-people exchanges, firmly support one another in economic cooperation, and jointly cultivate a garden of civilisations in which all cultures flourish in prosperity and harmony through mutual enlightenment.

Upholding fairness and justice. SCO member states must promote a correct historical perspective on World War II, oppose the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and bullying practices, safeguard the UN-centred international system, support the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, and make the global governance system more just and equitable.

Striving for real results and high efficiency. SCO member states should continuously promote the reform of the Organisation, increase resources input and enhance capacity building to improve its institutional structure and make its decision-making more scientific and its actions more efficient, and provide stronger underpinnings for security and economic cooperation among them.

The leaders of the member states signed and issued the Tianjin Declaration of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, approved the SCO Development Strategy to 2035, released a statement on the victory of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, a statement on supporting the multilateral trading system, and adopted 24 outcome documents covering enhanced cooperation in security, economy, people-to-people ties, and organisational development.

Jiayuguan – the socialist future today

In the following article, which was originally published in the Morning Star under the title ‘China’s socialism succeeds where Eastern European failed’, Pawel Wargan, Political Coordinator at the Progressive International, writes movingly about his recent visit to Jiayuguan, a ‘steel city’ in western China’s Gansu province, contrasting this prosperous and civilised socialist community to the dystopian fate of similarly conceived projects in his native Poland and other formerly socialist countries.

Pawel writes that, “those of us who were born on the ruins of the socialist Eastern Bloc know how purpose-built, industrial ‘monotowns’ are meant to look. Rusting steel mills, cracked and potholed roads, weathered sheets of corrugated metal strewn about. Thick smog and poisoned soil. Drunks passed out on the train platform. Emaciated stray dogs. A lone child skipping down the muddy path of a panel-block neighbourhood silenced by demographic blight.”

All this, he notes, serves to “beat down the idea that socialism can produce anything but misery. And they have become so firmly embedded in the popular imagination that, for many, it is difficult to believe otherwise.”

Yet Poland’s Nowa Huta, the sprawling Krakow neighbourhood built around the Vladimir Lenin Steelworks; Russia’s Magnitogorsk, built around its eponymous Iron and Steel Works; or Germany’s Eisenhuttenstadt, established by the socialist German Democratic Republic around a major steel mill, also served as a template for the dignified life that communism envisioned for all working people. However, capitalist restoration shattered their ambitions.

Pawel continues: “How might these cities look today had the process of socialist construction continued uninterrupted? I found one possible answer in Jiayuguan, a remote desert city in China’s Gansu Province built from the ground up around a steel plant.”

The Jiuquan Iron and Steel Corporation (JISCO) was founded in 1958 as part of revolutionary China’s ambitious drive to establish the basis of a modern, industrialised economy. “It was a gruelling effort… Workers who came to the region dug the earth with their hands, trudged through waist-high mud, and carried heavy equipment on their backs. They faced the desert’s biting cold and punishing heat.”

But now, where once there was desert stands China’s fourteenth-largest steel producer. It has an annual capacity of over 11 million tons of crude steel – double the total steel-making capacity of Britain. And the state-owned enterprise has expanded its activities far beyond metals, to agricultural products and industrial manufacturing equipment, packaging and logistics, housing and healthcare, education and even wine, boasting the largest wine cellar in Asia. JISCO also manages the city’s power grid. Its Smart Grid and Localised New Energy Consumption Demonstration Project, powered almost entirely by artificial intelligence, automatically distributes energy, optimising for consumption patterns in real-time, thereby decoupling growth from energy use.

Therefore, he concludes: “Jiayuguan offered proof that the images of decay and despair that many have come to associate with industrial cities in Eastern Europe were not products of their socialist past, but symptoms of their capitalist present.”

Pawel visited Jiayuguan as part of an international delegation organised by the China NGO Network for International Exchanges (CNIE) and Friends of Socialist China that visited China between 25 May and 5 June 2025.

Those of us who were born on the ruins of the socialist Eastern Bloc know how purpose-built, industrial “monotowns” are meant to look.

Rusting steel mills, cracked and potholed roads, weathered sheets of corrugated metal strewn about. Thick smog and poisoned soil. Drunks passed out on the train platform. Emaciated stray dogs. A lone child skipping down the muddy path of a panel-block neighbourhood silenced by demographic blight.

Xi Jinping – Champion of the Global South

The 17^th Summit of the BRICS cooperation mechanism was held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, July 6-7.

On this occasion, due to a scheduling clash, apparently related to the July 7 anniversary of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, when Japan launched its full-scale invasion of China, an event that assumes greater significance in this year of the 80^th anniversary of victory in the anti-fascist war, President Xi Jinping did not attend the summit, with China being represented by Premier Li Qiang.

However, prior to the summit, on July 3, the Xinhua News Agency published a detailed commentary highlighting Xi’s consistent commitment to BRICS and to the Global South more generally.

It quotes Xi as saying that “the collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the great transformation across the world,” when he addressed the “BRICS Plus” Dialogue held in Kazan, Russia, in October last year.

The article notes that much more than a pure geographical or economic term, the Global South refers to a community of emerging markets and developing countries that share similar historical experiences, development stages and goals, and political pursuits.

It adds: “The concept of ‘South’ was first coined in Antonio Gramsci’s work ‘The Southern Question’ written in 1926, in which the Italian Marxist philosopher highlighted the development gap between northern and southern Italy.”

The rise of the Global South, it continues, has been decades in the making. Back in 1955, the landmark Bandung Conference convened in Indonesia under the flag of solidarity, friendship and cooperation, marking the awakening of the Global South after centuries of Western colonial rule. In 1964, the Group of 77, a coalition of developing countries, was established in Geneva within the framework of the United Nations to promote South-South cooperation and work towards a new international economic order.

Through extensive cooperation, the countries of the Global South have emerged as a key driver of global growth. They have contributed as much as 80 percent over the past 20 years, with their share of global GDP increasing from 24 percent four decades ago to more than 40 percent today.

The article acknowledges that some Westerners have challenged China’s position that it is part of the Global South. It cites Xi in response:

“As a developing country and a member of the Global South, China breathes the same breath with other developing countries and pursues a shared future with them.”

Historically, China has suffered from Western colonialism and imperialism, much like other developing countries, according to Cavince Adhere, a Kenya-based international relations scholar.

“Even today, despite inordinate success by Beijing to rise from the backwaters of development to be the second-largest economy in the world, as well as the first developing country to eliminate extreme poverty, China still faces common development challenges and holds similar views regarding the current international order and global governance. Because of this, China has emerged as a strong champion for the legitimate rights and interests of many Global South countries.”

To boost common development in the Global South, Xi has been promoting practical cooperation through major infrastructure projects as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. During his foreign visits over the years, Xi would launch or visit major projects, such as the Chancay Port in Peru, the Dushanbe No. 2 power plant in Tajikistan and the Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka.

Li Qiang: The Global South should stand at the forefront of global governance reform

The 17th Summit of the BRICS cooperation mechanism was held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, July 6-7.

On July 6, Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a speech at the plenary session focused on the theme of Peace and Security and Reform of Global Governance.

He noted that: “Today, transformations unseen in a century are accelerating in the world. Geopolitical conflicts and economic and trade frictions keep emerging, flames of war continue to rage in some regions, international rules and order face serious challenges, and the authority and efficacy of multilateral mechanisms are weakening.”

Faced with the growing necessity and urgency to reform the global governance system, China believes that in this process, one must firmly safeguard the shared interests of the international community and always stand on the right side of history. This is the only way to avoid taking a wrong turn or backpedalling, and to march forward in big strides toward peace, security, prosperity and sustainable development.

“There should be less arrogance and prejudice, and more sincerity and understanding. We need to look for the best answer that serves the interests of all through friendly consultation conducted on the basis of equality… Humanity lives in the same global village, and countries have increasingly become one community with a shared future. Whether it is tackling global challenges or promoting long-term development, no country can do it alone. Only by standing together in solidarity and working in close collaboration can we build a better home for us all… Development should not be a zero-sum game where one profits at the expense of the other, but a win-win story where all can benefit through mutual assistance. Countries’ development ought to be opportunities, not threats to each other.”

Observing that over the years, Global South countries have grown stronger and become champions of and contributors to the reform and improvement of the global governance system, Li said that, “standing at the forefront of the Global South, we BRICS countries should uphold independence, act with a sense of responsibility, take bigger steps to build consensus and synergy, and strive to be the pioneering force in advancing global governance reform.”

To this end, he made three key points:

We should uphold justice and safeguard world peace and tranquillity. When international rules are being undermined and bullying practices are on the rise, we need to stand up for what is right and speak up for justice.

We should focus on development and bolster the driving forces of economic growth. China’s journey of reform and opening up shows that in solving all problems, development is the foundation and key. This year, China will establish the China-BRICS New Quality Productive Forces Research Centre and the BRICS New Industry Golden Egret Excellence Scholarships, which will help BRICS countries train talents in areas such as industry and telecommunication and pursue innovation-driven development.

We should uphold inclusiveness and promote exchange and mutual learning among civilisations. With rich histories and cultures, BRICS countries should be advocates of harmonious coexistence of civilisations. We need to call for respect for cultural diversity in the world, and work to ensure that different civilisations inspire each other and prosper together.

The following is the full text of the speech. It was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

The summit adopted a detailed declaration. The full text may be read here.

RIO DE JANEIRO, July 6 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang delivered a speech on Sunday at the plenary session of “Peace and Security and Reform of Global Governance” of the 17th BRICS Summit.

Xi Jinping sets out programme for heightened cooperation with Central Asia

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, from June 16-18, at the invitation of his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, to attend the Second China-Central Asia Summit. They were also joined by the Presidents of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. The first China-Central Asian Summit was hosted by President Xi in Xi’an in May 2023.

Xi Jinping made a keynote speech at the summit on June 17.

Recalling the Xi’an gathering, he said:

Two years on, China and Central Asian countries have further deepened and substantiated Belt and Road cooperation. Our trade has grown by 35 percent, and we have made important progress in industrial investment, green mining, technological innovation, and other fields of cooperation.

Two years on, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project has been officially launched. We are making steady progress in planning for the third railway link between China and Kazakhstan, in phase-II restoration of the China-Tajikistan highway, and in China-Turkmenistan energy cooperation.

The Chinese President went on to note that: “Our cooperation is rooted in more than 2,000 years of friendly exchanges, cemented by solidarity and mutual trust cultivated through more than three decades of diplomatic ties, and taken forward via openness and win-win cooperation of the new era.”

Building on our collective efforts over the years, we have forged a China-Central Asia Spirit of “mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, and mutual assistance for the joint pursuit of modernization through high-quality development”:

We practice mutual respect and treat each other as equals. All countries, big or small, are equal. We handle issues through consultation and make decisions by consensus.

We seek to deepen mutual trust and enhance mutual support. We firmly support each other in safeguarding independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity.

We pursue mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and strive for common development. We view each other as priority partners and share development opportunities together.

We help each other in time of need and stand together through thick and thin. We support each other in choosing development paths suitable to our respective national conditions and in taking domestic matters into our own hands.

“Today, unprecedented changes are unfolding at a faster pace across the globe, thrusting the world into a new state of heightened turbulence and volatility. A strong belief in fairness and justice and an unyielding commitment to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation are the only way to maintain world peace and achieve common development. There is no winner in tariff wars or trade wars. Unilateralism, protectionism and hegemonism will surely backfire while hurting others.” Going forward:

We should stay committed to our fundamental goal of unity and always trust and support each other. Today, we will sign together a treaty on eternal good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation to enshrine the principle of everlasting friendship in the form of law. This is a new landmark in the history of the relations between our six countries and a pioneering initiative in China’s diplomatic engagement with its neighbors. It is a milestone for today and a foundation for tomorrow.

We should optimize our cooperation framework to make it more results-oriented, more efficient, and more deeply integrated. We have agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation. We should focus our cooperation on smooth trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green mining, agricultural modernization and personnel exchanges, and roll out more projects on the ground. In order to promote relevant cooperation, China has decided to establish three cooperation centers, i.e. on poverty reduction, on education exchange, and on desertification prevention and control, as well as a cooperation platform on smooth trade under the China-Central Asia cooperation framework.

We should develop a security framework for peace, tranquility and solidarity. We should step up regional security governance, deepen law enforcement and security cooperation, jointly prevent and thwart extreme ideologies, and resolutely fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, so as to maintain peace and stability in our region. Afghanistan is our close neighbor. We should strengthen coordination to help the country boost its development capacity and achieve peace, stability, reconstruction and development at an early date.

We should cement the bonds of shared vision, mutual understanding and mutual affection between our peoples. We will make good use of sister-city relations and people-to-people exchanges to nurture heart-to-heart connections at central and subnational levels, [and] between official and non-governmental actors.

We should uphold a fair and equitable international order and an equal and orderly world structure. China supports Central Asian countries in playing a bigger role in international affairs. We stand ready to work with all parties to defend international fairness and justice, oppose hegemonism and power politics, and promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In the strenuous times of war, Chinese and Central Asian peoples supported each other through adversity, and jointly made important contributions to the cause of justice of humanity. We should promote the correct view of history, defend the fruits of the victory of World War II, uphold the UN-centered international system, and provide more stability and certainty for world peace and development.

Concluding, Xi said: “China is building a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese modernization. No matter how the international situation changes, China will remain unwavering in opening up to the outside world and embrace higher-quality cooperation with Central Asian countries to deepen the integration of interests and achieve common development.”

We reprint below the full text of President Xi’s speech. It was originally published by the Xinhua News Agency.

Championing the China-Central Asia Spirit For High-Quality Cooperation in the Region

Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China, at the Second China-Central Asia Summit, Astana, June 17, 2025.

Your Excellency President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev,

Distinguished Colleagues,

Friends,

I am delighted to join you at the second China-Central Asia Summit in the beautiful city of Astana. I’d like to thank President Tokayev and the government of Kazakhstan for the gracious hospitality and thoughtful arrangement.

During our meeting in Xi’an two years ago, we jointly outlined the Xi’an Vision for China-Central Asia cooperation. The six pomegranate trees we planted together are in full bloom today, auguring the vitality of the cooperation among the six nations.

Two years on, China and Central Asian countries have further deepened and substantiated Belt and Road cooperation. Our trade has grown by 35 percent, and we have made important progress in industrial investment, green mining, technological innovation, and other fields of cooperation. The package of projects with Chinese financial support are well underway. While more and more Chinese new energy vehicles and photovoltaic products are entering Central Asian markets, Central Asian agricultural products, including honey, fruits, wheat and poultry, are diversifying the dinner tables of Chinese families.

Two years on, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project has been officially launched. We are making steady progress in planning for the third railway link between China and Kazakhstan, in phase-II restoration of the China-Tajikistan highway, and in China-Turkmenistan energy cooperation. Freight train services are connecting more and more Chinese cities to Central Asia. The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route has been upgraded and expanded. Green industries, digital economy, artificial intelligence, aviation and space are becoming new drivers of our cooperation. Cross-border e-commerce, online education, and other new business models are benefiting more and more people in China and Central Asia.

Two years on, China and Central Asian countries have made progress in establishing cultural centers in each other as well as in opening branches of Chinese universities and Luban Workshops. China has made mutual visa-free arrangements with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, facilitating more than 1.2 million travels between China and Kazakhstan alone in 2024. Tourism and culture years and art festivals of Central Asian countries are very popular in China. Chinese films and TV dramas, such as Min-Ning Town and To the Wonder, have become great hits in Central Asia. The China-Central Asia train services for cultural tourism have been successfully inaugurated. And today, we will witness the number of sister cities between China and Central Asia reach the milestone of 100 pairs.

Two years on, we have launched 13 ministerial cooperation platforms under the China-Central Asia mechanism. The Secretariat is fully functioning, and the core framework of the mechanism is largely in place.

I am pleased to see that our consensus at the first Summit has been implemented across the board — from the millennium-old Xi’an to Astana “the pearl of the steppe,” from the coast of the Yellow Sea to the shores of the Caspian Sea, from the Tianshan Mountain Range to the Pamir Plateau. The path of our cooperation is steadily widening, and our friendship is blooming ever more brightly.

Distinguished Colleagues,

Friends,

Our cooperation is rooted in more than 2,000 years of friendly exchanges, cemented by solidarity and mutual trust cultivated through more than three decades of diplomatic ties, and taken forward via openness and win-win cooperation of the new era. Building on our collective efforts over the years, we have forged a China-Central Asia Spirit of “mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit, and mutual assistance for the joint pursuit of modernization through high-quality development.”

— We practice mutual respect and treat each other as equals. All countries, big or small, are equal. We handle issues through consultation and make decisions by consensus.

— We seek to deepen mutual trust and enhance mutual support. We firmly support each other in safeguarding independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national dignity. We do not do anything harmful to the core interests of any party.

— We pursue mutual benefit and win-win cooperation and strive for common development. We view each other as priority partners, and share development opportunities together. We accommodate each other’s interests, and work to build a win-win and symbiotic relationship.

— We help each other in time of need and stand together through thick and thin. We support each other in choosing development paths suitable to our respective national conditions and in taking domestic matters into our own hands. We work together to address various risks and challenges, and uphold regional security and stability.

This China-Central Asia Spirit is an important guideline for our endeavor to carry forward friendship and cooperation from generation to generation. We should always uphold it and let it shine forever.

Distinguished Colleagues,

Friends,

Today, unprecedented changes are unfolding at a faster pace across the globe, thrusting the world into a new state of heightened turbulence and volatility. A strong belief in fairness and justice and an unyielding commitment to mutual benefit and win-win cooperation are the only way to maintain world peace and achieve common development. There is no winner in tariff wars or trade wars. Unilateralism, protectionism and hegemonism will surely backfire while hurting others.

I always maintain that history should move forward, not backward; and the world should be united, not divided. Humanity must not regress to the law of the jungle. Instead, we should build a community with a shared future for mankind.

Three years ago, we announced together that we would build a China-Central Asia community with a shared future, setting out the goal and direction of our six nations in building consensus, overcoming challenges and pursuing development. We should act on the China-Central Asia Spirit, enhance cooperation with renewed vigor and more practical measures, promote high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and forge ahead toward our goal of a community with a shared future for the region.

First, we should stay committed to our fundamental goal of unity, and always trust and support each other. China consistently takes Central Asia as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy. With a firm belief in an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood as well as a strong dedication to amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness, China interacts with Central Asian countries on the basis of equality and sincerity. We always wish our neighbors well.

Today, we will sign together a treaty on eternal good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation to enshrine the principle of everlasting friendship in the form of law. This is a new landmark in the history of the relations between our six countries and a pioneering initiative in China’s diplomatic engagement with its neighbors. It is a milestone for today and a foundation for tomorrow.

Second, we should optimize our cooperation framework to make it more results-oriented, more efficient, and more deeply integrated. We have agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as the Years of High-Quality Development of China-Central Asia Cooperation. We should focus our cooperation on smooth trade, industrial investment, connectivity, green mining, agricultural modernization and personnel exchanges, and roll out more projects on the ground. We should do our best to get early harvests as soon as possible.

China is ready to share with Central Asian countries development experience and latest technological advances, promote connectivity in digital infrastructure, enhance cooperation on artificial intelligence, and foster new quality productive forces.

In order to promote relevant cooperation, China has decided to establish three cooperation centers, i.e. on poverty reduction, on education exchange, and on desertification prevention and control, as well as a cooperation platform on smooth trade under the China-Central Asia cooperation framework. China will provide a grant of RMB 1.5 billion yuan to Central Asian countries this year to be used in livelihood and development projects high on their agenda. China will also provide 3,000 training opportunities to Central Asian countries in the next two years.

Third, we should develop a security framework for peace, tranquility and solidarity. We should step up regional security governance, deepen law enforcement and security cooperation, jointly prevent and thwart extreme ideologies, and resolutely fight terrorism, separatism and extremism, so as to maintain peace and stability in our region.

China supports Central Asian countries in modernizing their national defense, law enforcement and security capacities. We will do our best to help Central Asian countries combat terrorism and transnational organized crime and safeguard cybersecurity and biosecurity. We will launch more Safe City projects, and conduct more joint exercises and joint training cooperation.

Afghanistan is our close neighbor. We should strengthen coordination to help the country boost its development capacity and achieve peace, stability, reconstruction and development at an early date.

Fourth, we should cement the bonds of shared vision, mutual understanding and mutual affection between our peoples. China will enhance cooperation between legislatures, political parties, women, youth, media and think tanks with Central Asian countries, conduct in-depth exchange of governance experience, and share experience in green development, poverty reduction and anti-corruption.

China is ready to set up more cultural centers, university branches and Luban Workshops in Central Asia, and launch new majors in Central Asian languages in Chinese universities. We will continue to carry out effectively the “China-Central Asia technology and skills improvement scheme” to train more high-caliber talent for Central Asian countries.

China supports deepening subnational cooperation with Central Asia. We will make good use of sister-city relations and people-to-people exchanges to nurture heart-to-heart connections at central and subnational levels, between official and non-governmental actors, and from adjacent to broader areas.

I hope that the travel-facilitation measures we adopt today will be implemented as soon as possible to help our people visit each other more conveniently, efficiently and frequently like relatives, and in the course help them become ever closer to each other.

Fifth, we should uphold a fair and equitable international order and an equal and orderly world structure. China supports Central Asian countries in playing a bigger role in international affairs. We stand ready to work with all parties to defend international fairness and justice, oppose hegemonism and power politics, and promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, and the 80th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In the strenuous times of war, Chinese and Central Asian peoples supported each other through adversity, and jointly made important contributions to the cause of justice of humanity. We should promote the correct view of history, defend the fruits of the victory of World War II, uphold the UN-centered international system, and provide more stability and certainty for world peace and development.

Distinguished Colleagues,

Friends,

China is building a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through Chinese modernization. No matter how the international situation changes, China will remain unwavering in opening up to the outside world, and embrace higher-quality cooperation with Central Asian countries to deepen the integration of interests and achieve common development.

Distinguished Colleagues,

Friends,

Ancient Chinese philosophy advocates “mutual care and mutual benefit.” Similarly, a Central Asian proverb compares harmony and unity to happiness and wealth. China is ready to work with all parties to carry forward the China-Central Asia Spirit, pursue the goal of a community with a shared future, and strive for new progress in China-Central Asia cooperation.

Thank you.

Wang Yi meets leading politicians from Uganda, Liberia, Mozambique and other countries

On June 12, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a series of bilateral meetings, for the third consecutive day, with leading politicians from a number of African countries who were in Changsha, Hunan to attend the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) as well as the fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.

Meeting with Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Wang Yi said that Uganda is an important country in Africa and a representative of emerging economies. President Xi Jinping and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni have established mutual trust and friendship, providing impetus and assurance for the development of China-Uganda relations. Last autumn, the Beijing Summit of FOCAC was successfully held, and the outcomes of the Summit have already been effectively implemented in Uganda. In the first quarter of this year, Uganda’s exports to China increased by nearly 90 percent year on year.

Wang Yi stated that China and Uganda maintain strategic communication and coordination on international and multilateral affairs and jointly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Africa and the vast number of developing countries. China is willing to work with Uganda and other African brothers and sisters to support and practice multilateralism, oppose unilateral bullying, and safeguard the basic norms governing international relations.

Robinah Nabbanja said that Uganda and China respect and understand each other and keep close communication and contact. She expressed appreciation to China for its long-term and valuable support to Uganda’s infrastructure construction and economic and social development. Uganda and China have achieved remarkable results in cooperation within the frameworks of the Belt and Road Initiative and the FOCAC.

Meeting with Vice President of Liberia Jeremiah Kpan Koung, Wang Yi extended congratulations on Liberia’s election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. He said that China is ready to strengthen solidarity and coordination with Liberia, practice the vision of multilateralism, and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries, especially African countries. China’s foreign policy remains consistent and stable, and China stands firmly with developing countries and speaks up for small and medium-sized nations.

Jeremiah Kpan Koung said that China is a reliable friend. He expressed appreciation for China’s long-term, selfless support and assistance to Liberia, saying that China’s zero-tariff policy for African countries has brought significant benefits to Liberia. Liberia is willing to work with China to continue implementing the important common understandings reached between the two heads of state and advance cooperation in various fields such as maritime affairs, green energy, healthcare, and agriculture.

China and Africa consolidate dynamic partnership

On June 11, 2025, the Ministerial Meeting of Coordinators on the Implementation of the Follow-up Actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Changsha, capital of China’s Hunan Province.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the opening ceremony and read out the congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping. Foreign Minister Jean-Claude Gakosso of the Republic of the Congo, the current African co-chair of the FOCAC, read out the congratulatory letter from President Denis Sassou Nguesso.

Xi Jinping pointed out that since its establishment 25 years ago, the FOCAC has strongly driven the flourishing development of China-Africa cooperation and become a model for solidarity and cooperation in the Global South. Through the entry into agreements on economic partnership for shared development, China implements zero-tariff measures of granting 53 African countries having diplomatic relations with China zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent of tariff lines, and facilitates greater access for exports from Africa’s least developed countries to China.

President Denis Sassou Nguesso pledged to make all-out efforts and work unwaveringly with President Xi Jinping to make greater progress in building an Africa-China community with a shared future and to enhance the well-being of the people on both sides. As the African co-chair of the FOCAC, the Republic of the Congo will work with China and other Global South countries to strengthen cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, jointly build a multipolar world free from unilateralism and protectionism, and usher in a new era of universally beneficial and inclusive globalisation.

Wang Yi said that since its establishment 25 years ago, the FOCAC has grown rapidly, driving China-Africa relations to achieve leapfrog development and ushering in their best period in history. The FOCAC Beijing Summit held in September last year marked the beginning of a new journey for jointly building a China-Africa community with a shared future. Guided by the consensus reached at the summit, China and Africa have actively implemented the ten partnership actions and achieved new, encouraging outcomes. Strategic mutual trust between China and Africa has become stronger, practical cooperation has been increasingly deepened, and multilateral coordination has become closer. Facts have proved that China-Africa cooperation has a solid foundation, extensive demands, and enormous potential, and is brimming with vigour and vitality. When China and Africa stand shoulder to shoulder, the development and revitalisation of the Global South will be more promising, and international fairness and justice will be more guaranteed.

The Chinese Foreign Minister emphasised that China and Africa, as the largest developing country and the continent home to the largest number of developing countries, together form the backbone of the Global South. The more complex and turbulent the international landscape becomes, the more imperative it is for China and Africa to uphold solidarity and self-reliance, stand firmly on the right side of history, actively steer the course of the times, and respond to uncertainties in the world with the stability and resilience of China-Africa relations.