-President Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China The National Assembly of Nigeria
(27 April 2006)
The Honorable Ken Nnamani, President of the Senate,
The Honorable Aminu Bello Masari, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
Deputies, Heads of Diplomatic Missions,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
I am delighted to meet you at the National Assembly of Nigeria today. First of all, I would like to convey to you and the great Nigerian people the warm greetings and best wishes of the 1.3 billion Chinese people.
I am visiting Africa to learn more about this great continent. I am here to learn from Africa and carry forward traditional China-Africa friendship. Most importantly, I have come to Africa to work with African countries to increase mutual trust, enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, advance common development, and forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership.
This is my first visit to Nigeria. The beautiful land and hospitable people of Nigeria have left me an unforgettable impression. This year marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and Nigeria. Over the years, our two countries have adhered to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, our two peoples have forged strong ties of friendship, and our cooperation in all fields has yielded fruitful results. And this naturally leads to the forging of China-Nigeria strategic partnership, which will both benefit our two peoples and help promote China-Africa cooperation and South-South cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of diplomatic relations between New China and African countries. Over the past 50 years, China and Africa have increased mutual understanding, supported and helped each other. In their respective national endeavors to promote development and pursue a better life, the Chinese and African peoples have fostered profound friendship, and fruitful progress has been made in China-Africa cooperation.
At the Bandung Conference in 1955, a leader of New China and African leaders for the first time met and shook hands. Fifty years later, at the Meeting in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference in 2005, China and other Asian and African countries committed themselves to building a new type of Asian-African strategic partnership. China helped Africa to train freedom fighters for national liberation. And African countries supported the restoration of the lawful seat of the People's Republic of China in the United Nations. Braving hardship in the tropical jungles, Chinese and African workers built the great Tazara Railway. China-Africa cooperation in practical terms has expanded in all fields. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has been inaugurated, and a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership is being forged. All these milestones of China-Africa friendship will go down in history. The great progress in China-Africa relations over the past 50 years will remain fresh in our minds.
We will always remember the successive Chinese and African leaders and particularly the older generation leaders who contributed so much to promoting China-Africa friendship with their dedicated efforts. We will always remember the indelible contribution made by the Chinese and African peoples to the friendship between China and Africa.
Today, China and Africa are good friends, good partners and good brothers. Our cooperation, covering a wide range of areas including political relations, economy, science, technology, culture, education and health, is deepening. We are gratified and heartened by all this progress.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
The world is undergoing profound and complex changes. Peace, development and cooperation are the calling of the times. Thanks to accelerated economic globalization, countries are becoming increasingly interdependent and their interests more closely interconnected. Working together to share opportunities, meet challenges and achieve common development is the desire of all peoples.
We are glad to see that in recent years, African countries have made innovative efforts and worked in unity to promote national development and revitalization and made remarkable achievements in promoting peace and development in the region. Africa has made important progress in regional integration under the guidance of the African Union. The African people are more united and confident than ever before. A rapidly developing Africa has drawn the attention of the international community. The Chinese people rejoice at the achievements our African brothers have made and sincerely wish the brotherly African people greater success in your endeavor for national development and revitalization.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
Early this year, the Chinese Government issued the African Policy Paper. The paper expounds on China's goals of carrying forward China-Africa traditional friendship and building a new type of strategic partnership with Africa in a new era and its firm commitment to this goal.
To this end, China will continue to work with Africa and make innovative efforts in keeping with the trend of the times to widen China-Africa cooperation, enrich and inject new vitality into it. Here, I would like to propose the following:
First, strengthen political mutual trust. China firmly shares the desire of the African countries to maintain independence and sovereignty and pursue modes of development that suit their particular national conditions. It supports their efforts to enhance self-development through unity and resolve their problems by themselves. China supports the African Union in playing a leading role in enhancing African unity and cooperation. China will maintain close contact with African countries at the leadership level and promote communication and exchanges between governments, parliaments, political parties and non-governmental organizations of our two sides to enhance mutual understanding and friendship. China is committed to the effective function of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and will continue to enhance its cooperation with the African Union and other sub-regional organizations and regional multilateral institutions in Africa to strengthen collective dialogue, broaden consensus and expand common interests. We should put China-Africa friendship above everything else, take each other's concern seriously and properly handle new issues arising in China-Africa relations in the new circumstances.
Second, expand win-win economic cooperation. Africa has rich resources and market potentials, whereas China has available effective practices and practical know-how it has gained in the course of modernization. China-Africa cooperation thus has broad prospects. To enlarge the scope of China-Africa cooperation and diversify ways of conducting such cooperation and enable both sides to draw on their comparative strengths is in our mutual interests. China will make continued efforts to extend our cooperation in trade to investment, technology and project contracting, and to encourage companies and other economic entities to join our governments in conducting economic cooperation. Greater attention should be paid to knowledge-based cooperation such as capacity building, human resources training and science and technology exchanges, to promoting value-added processing industry of primary products and upgrading of traditional industries, and to enhancing social development and making life better for local communities. China remains committed to providing assistance to African countries to the best of its ability. Last year, at the High-level Meeting on Financing for Development at the UN summit marking its 60th anniversary, I announced a five-point proposal to assist other developing countries in speeding up development. This includes: Granting zero-tariff treatment for some exports from the least developed countries, increasing aid to the heavily-indebted poor countries and least developed countries and canceling debts contracted by them, providing concessional loans and effective medicine for treating malaria, and training professionals. These steps are mainly designed to help Africa, and China will speed up the implementation of these steps to the benefit of African people.
Third, increase cultural interaction. Both endowed with splendid cultures, China and Africa have made important contribution to the progress of human civilization. We should strengthen cultural exchanges, draw on each other's culture to increase mutual understanding and friendship. China supports enhanced cooperation between cultural institutions, media, academic groups and institutions of higher learning of the two sides and would be happy to host cultural festivals, arts exhibitions and sports events with Africa. China will provide more scholarships for African students to study in China and encourages Chinese youth volunteers to work in Africa. China asks all Chinese citizens and nationals in Africa to live in harmony with the local people, contribute their share to local economic and social development and serve as a bridge for enhancing China-Africa friendship.
Fourth, strengthen security cooperation. Global security concerns the interests of all countries, including China and African countries. In order to create an international environment for common development, China and Africa should strengthen exchanges and consultation and promote collective security in the international community and a new security concept featuring mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation. To jointly meet global challenges, China will strengthen consultation and cooperation with Africa in non-traditional security areas such as the prevention and control of major infectious diseases, bird flu and the fight against transnational crimes. China supports the African Union and other regional organizations and countries in Africa in their efforts to promote regional peace and will increase its input and take an active part in the UN-led peacekeeping operations in Africa. China is ready to play a constructive role and help the African countries settle their differences and disputes.
Fifth, maintain close coordination in international affairs. China has always appreciated the important role played by Africa in international affairs. China and Africa share extensive common position and have a good tradition of cooperation on major international issues. To strengthen coordination and cooperation in international affairs meets our mutual interests. China will continue to work with Africa to uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and strengthen consultation and cooperation in the United Nations and other multilateral organizations. It will continue to take an active part in the building of a New Asia-Africa Strategic Partnership and other mechanisms for South-South Cooperation and North-South Dialogue. China is committed to promoting multilateralism and democracy and rule of law in international relations, establishing a just and equitable new international political and economic order and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. Africa's aspiration for peace and development deserves respect and sympathy, and the international community should be more focused on Africa's development and increase assistance to Africa. China will continue to work for more progress in UN reform to make the world body place greater emphasis on the issue of development and address as a top priority the under-representation of developing countries, including African countries.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
Tremendous achievements have been made in China's economic and social development since the founding of the People's Republic of China, and especially since the launching of reform and opening-up drive 28 years ago. Historic progress has been made in raising China's social productivity and increasing its overall national strength. The Chinese people, as a whole, are leading a relatively comfortable life. The Chinese people are making concerted efforts to build a society of moderate prosperity in all aspects. A general plan has been adopted for promoting China's economic and social development in the years to come. The following are our goals. By the year 2010, China's per capita GDP should double that of 2000 and the energy consumption per unit GDP should be 20% lower than that at the end of 2005. By the year 2020, its GDP should quadruple that of 2000 to reach US$ 4 trillion, averaging US$ 3,000 per head. By that time, China will have a more developed economy, greater democracy, more advanced science and education, a more developed culture, greater social harmony and higher living standards.
On the other hand, we are keenly aware that China is still a developing country with a large population, weak foundation and uneven development. China will remain in the primary stage of socialism for a long time to come. Though China's total economic output is among the largest in the world, with a 1.3 billion population, it is still behind the 100th place in terms of per capita GDP. China still faces many difficulties and challenges in its development endeavor, and its path to modernization will be a long and arduous one.
In the course of national development, the Chinese people will hold high the banner of peace, development and cooperation, pursue an independent foreign policy of peace and peaceful development and continue the opening-up strategy for mutual benefit and win-win cooperation. We will work with the people of other countries to build a harmonious world of enduring peace and common prosperity.
-- China is committed to safeguarding world peace. China will remain a staunch force for world peace. To China, its own development is an integral part of the progress of mankind. China will develop itself by maintaining a peaceful international environment, and its own development, in turn, enables China to promote world peace. China will work with other countries to enhance global security and stability.
-- China is committed to pursuing common development. China is firm in pursuing the opening-up policy and mutually beneficial cooperation with other countries. China draws on progress in world economic and scientific development to develop itself. With its own development, it in turn makes due contribution to the world. China will continue to work for economic globalization to develop in a more balanced way and bring benefit to all. It will work for more favorable conditions in the international economic, trade and financial mechanisms that will benefit all countries, developing countries in particular, making the 21st century truly a century of development for all.
-- China is committed to promoting exchanges among civilizations. China is firm in upholding the diversity of the world and diversified models of development. We hold that countries should respect and learn from each other, and different civilizations should coexist in harmony, benefit from each other through exchanges and competition, and seek common development by expanding common ground and shelving differences.
In short, history has proved and will continue to prove that China's development is peaceful, open and cooperative in nature. China's development will not pose a threat to anyone. On the contrary, it will bring more development opportunities to the world.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit and the Third Ministerial Conference will be held in Beijing this November. Jointly initiated by China and Africa, the Summit has received warm response and great support from African leaders. The issuance of a joint declaration by Chinese and African leaders at the Summit is now under discussion between them. The declaration will summarize the views and common position of the two sides on major international and African issues and China-Africa relations. A 2007-2009 action plan for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation will also be adopted at the Summit, which will provide a framework for cooperation between the two sides in the next three years. China will announce important measures to enhance cooperation with Africa at the Summit. We are working hard and maintaining close communication and consultation with African countries to ensure that the Summit will be a meeting of unity and success and yield concrete outcomes.
I sincerely look forward to welcoming President Obasanjo and other African leaders in Beijing at the Summit to celebrate the China-Africa friendship and discuss ways to further our cooperation.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends,
Africa is one of the birthplaces of mankind, and China is one of the cradles of human civilization. Being the two most ancient civilizations, China and Africa can and should make greater contribution to the development of the human society in the 21st century. We are bound by similar experiences, shared objectives and a common future. Let us seize the opportunity and meet challenges. Let us carry on the traditional friendship, strengthen comprehensive cooperation and endeavor to forge a new type of strategic partnership between China and Africa!
May China and Nigeria enjoy lasting friendship!
May China and Africa enjoy lasting friendship!
Thank you.
