FOCAC will be fruitful for all nations

China is going to host the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to be attended by the largest number of foreign leaders, including UN Secretary General and representatives from 27 international and regional organizations. The conference carries much weight for the two sides for cementing mutual ties and enhancing diplomatic and people-to-people bonds.

Titled “China and Africa: Toward an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future Through Win-Win Cooperation,” the summit will be held in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday and addressed by President Xi Jinping. The FOCAC plays a significant role in upholding common prosperity and win-win outcome to pave the way for constructing a community where all members could live a peaceful life and exercise tolerance. It will also chart the course for priority sectors of bilateral cooperation between China and Africa in the coming three years and beyond.

The two sides are meeting at the time of immense challenges to a community with shared future. With the escalated regional conflicts, building a violence-free community for promoting the spirit of brotherhood and peaceful coexistence and upholding the principle of nondiscrimination are of great significance. A community with shared future, put forward by President Xi in 2013, reiterates seeking common ground, settling conflicts through communication rather than confrontation and partnership rather than alliance. Likewise, there is no room for unilateralism or zero-sum game in such a community.

The title of the forum indicates that China and Africa have made great strides in building a community with shared destiny and both sides are in pursuit of building a “stronger community” via “win-win cooperation”. The dream for such a community will come true if the two sides align their struggles with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which aims to eradicate poverty, foster “peaceful, just and inclusive societies which are free from fear and violence”, strengthen global solidarity, promote human rights and protect gender equality, creating inclusive and sustainable economic growth, etc.

The Sino-African win-win cooperation has been highly productive and the forum, since its establishment in 2000, served as an effective mechanism in political and economic issues. For instance, China supported many projects in Africa including Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway in Ethiopia and the Abuja-Kaduna rail line in Nigeria.

Within the nine consecutive years, China has been Africa’s largest trading partner. The trade volume between the two sides exceeded $98.8 billion in the first half of the current year, according to the commerce ministry.

In this summit, Gambia, Burkina Faso, and the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe will attend for the first time. The participants will pledge to pursue increased trade and investment in the frame of the Belt and Road Initiative, which has won support and active participation from African countries. Nine African countries have signed Memorandum of Understanding with China on cooperation in BRI and 20 other African countries are in talks with China in this regard to reach cooperative agreements.

The participants expect the summit to build a closer community of shared destiny between the two sides, link the BRI to African development, pave the path for mutual cooperation at a higher level and strengthen bilateral friendly relations, according to Foreign Minister Wang Yi. On his Wednesday’s media briefing, Wang said President Xi would make comprehensive introduction to new concepts and proposals for bilateral ties and declare new measures on practical cooperation in his keynote speech on September 3.

Building a community with shared future does not necessarily belong to the FOCAC participants, China calls all nations to play their role constructively in building a community with shard destiny for mankind through practicing upon the golden rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you), exercising mutual respect and mutual interests, and seeking common ground and win-win cooperation, which are the blueprint for building a peaceful and harmonious society. With this in mind, this summit will be productive for China and Africa in particular and for the world in general. To put it succinctly, when a number of nations contribute to building a community with shared destiny, all nations will taste the fruit. On the contrary, if a nation engages in destructive role, all nations will be at risk.

China and Africa will share the fruit of this summit with all nations since both sides are in pursuit of building a peaceful community with shared future. In the current era of globalization, all nations have shared destiny and, to put it in the words of President Xi, “Everyone has in himself a little bit of others”.

The author is an Afghan journalist and freelance writer based in Beijing.