In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping has traveled abroad eight times for an accumulated period of 46 days, visiting 14 countries in Asia, North America, Europe and Africa. His proposals and ideas on bilateral relations and international affairs, economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, and global governance and regional issues have been greeted with applause worldwide.
ONE UPGRADE, FIVE PILLARS, TEN PLANS
President Xi and African leaders wrapped up landmark summits last Saturday in Johannesburg with unanimous consensus to upgrade China-Africa relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, backed by a roadmap for further boosting mutually beneficial cooperation and common development.
In support of historic progress, African leaders endorsed Xi's appeal to strengthen the five "major pillars" of political equality and mutual trust, win-win economic cooperation, mutually enriching cultural exchanges, mutual assistance in security, and solidarity and coordination in international affairs.
To realize the upgrade, the two sides also agreed to carry out 10 major cooperation plans in the next three years in the areas of industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure construction, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.
The current chairman of the African Union, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, said unlike the West, China has remained a dependable ally in the endeavor to promote development, peace and security in Africa. "China has never been our colonizer, and while some detractors allege that our cooperation with Beijing is commercially driven, the reality on the ground does not conform to such a distorted view," Mugabe said.
Meanwhile, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairwoman of the African Union Commission, said that the 10 plans identified areas in which Africa is interested in and which are on their Agenda 2063.
SINCERITY, PRACTICAL RESULTS, AFFINITY, GOOD FAITH
Regarding China's relations with Africa, Xi said in his keynote speech at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit that "we adhere to the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and uphold the values of friendship, justice and shared interests," which was punctuated by rounds of applause at the scene.
The principles are also enshrined in China's second Africa policy paper, which was released during the summit. It states that China and Africa "have always belonged to a community of shared future" and "have always been good friends who stand together through thick and thin, good partners who share weal and woe, and good brothers who fully trust each other despite changes in the international landscape."
As a sign of Beijing's commitment to the principles, the Chinese president met with more than 40 African leaders either separately or in groups on the sidelines of the summit, comparing notes with them on the relations between China and their respective countries and other issues of common concern. Meanwhile, China also proposed many practical measures.
The series of statements and measures is "very encouraging" and indicates that China is sincere and serious about its relations with Africa, said Zimbabwean Minister of Industry and Commerce Mike Bimha, adding that it also shows that "China wants to be a true friend of Africa." In the eyes of Tlohang Sekhamane, foreign minister of Lesotho, "it is clear that China wants to be a partner looking for cooperation with Africa and it seeks opportunities of real win-win cooperation instead of looking for a situation of dominance," said Tlohang Sekhamane, foreign minister of Lesotho.
COMMON BUT DIFFERENTIATED RESPONSIBILITIES
The Chinese president delivered a speech on Nov. 30 at the UN climate change conference in Paris, emphasizing the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" and warning against a zero-sum game mentality.
In his speech, Xi suggested the Paris conference accommodate the national conditions of various countries and lay emphasis on practical results. It is imperative to respect differences among countries, especially developing ones, in domestic policies, capacity building and economic structure, the Chinese leader said, noting the legitimate needs of developing countries to reduce poverty and improve their peoples' living standards should not be denied when the issue of climate change is being addressed.
Along with leaders of other developing nations, Xi also called upon developed countries to honor their commitment to climate finance and transfer of low-carbon and eco-friendly technologies to developing countries. "Developed countries should honor their commitment, mobilizing 100 billion U.S. dollars each year before 2020, and provide stronger financial support to developing countries afterwards," said Xi.
Observers said Xi's proposal of rejecting the narrow-minded "zero sum game" mentality and creating a future of win-win cooperation with each country contributing to the best of its ability provided inspiration to reaching a major global climate agreement. "The crux of the climate change negotiation is obtaining financial and technical support for developing countries' capacity building, and specifying the timetable and roadmap of funding support by developed countries after 2020," said Wang Ke, a researcher with Renmin University.
TEN, HUNDRED, THOUSAND
At the Paris climate summit, Xi also pledged to launch cooperation projects next year to set up 10 pilot low-carbon industrial parks and start 100 mitigation and adaptation programs in other developing countries and provide them with 1,000 training opportunities on climate change.
As a matter of fact, China, as a developing country, has taken bold actions to reduce carbon emissions with ambitious climate goals. According to an action plan submitted to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in late June, China has pledged to cut its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, raise the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent and peak its carbon emissions by the same year.
Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, has said that China has taken "impressive" actions to combat climate change. The country has also included the fight against climate change in its 13th Five-Year Plan for national socioeconomic development in the 2016-2020 period, which demonstrates "a very very serious" attitude toward climate change, she said.
French President Francois Hollande said China could play "a major role" in the COP21, and Nicolas Hulot, Hollande's Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet, also praised China's exemplary role.
SOUTH-SOUTH CLIMATE COOPERATION FUND
During Xi's state visit to the United States, the president announced the creation of a 20-billion-yuan (3-billion-U.S.-dollar) fund to help other developing countries combat climate change.
Youssef Nassef, UNFCCC's secretariat coordinator for adaptation programs, said he has seen an unprecedented momentum throughout the year 2015, for example, the Chinese president's announcement to allocate 20 billion Chinese yuan to the fund. During his recent visit to Africa, Xi also reiterated the pledge made in September.
Speaking highly of China's initiative of setting up the climate cooperation fund, Przemyslaw Sobanski, an official at Poland's Department of Sustainable Development and deputy head of the Polish delegation to the FOCAC summit, said China is playing a responsible role in coping with the challenges brought about by climate change.
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