Community of Opportunities

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

　　During stops in Ethiopia， Nigeria， Angola and Kenya， Li announced a series of initiativesdesigned to convince Africans that Chinese involvement would be of benefit to their countries.

　　The premier identified six key areas of focus， including poverty reduction， environmentalprotection， people-to-people exchanges， financial cooperation and peace and security -a proposal regarded as the “upgraded version” of all-around Sino-African cooperation. It wasa clear indication that China is adjusting its engagements in Africa to include more sectorsoutside of the traditional infrastructure and energy industries. Using the vehicles of trade，investment and aid， China aims to help African countries grow beyond just being resourcesuppliers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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