Source: Xinhua Net
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, June 18 (Xinhua) -- In this special period, what is the special significance of this special summit presided over by President Xi Jinping?
Xinhua News Agency
On the evening of June 17, President Xi Jinping presided over the China-Africa Solidarity and Anti-Epidemic Special Summit in Beijing and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Unity against the Epidemic and Overcome Difficulties Together". The summit was jointly initiated by China, South Africa, the rotating chairmanship of the African Union, and Senegal, co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and was held by video. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Jingwen
A summit named "Unity", the China-Africa Solidarity and Anti-Epidemic Special Summit, was held by video on the evening of June 17, Beijing time. Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Unity against the Epidemic and Overcoming Difficulties Together" in Beijing.
This is also another important multilateral "cloud diplomacy" carried out by President Xi Jinping since the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
Unlike the G20 Leaders' Extraordinary Summit on March 26 and the invitation to address the opening ceremony of the World Health Assembly on May 18, this special summit, jointly initiated by China and the African countries of South Africa and Senegal, is an important home diplomatic event.
Why is China advocating such a summit? What important messages did President Xi Jinping's keynote speech at the summit convey? Xinhua News Agency reporters interviewed experts and scholars on this issue.
On the evening of June 17, President Xi Jinping presided over the China-Africa Solidarity and Anti-Epidemic Special Summit in Beijing and delivered a keynote speech entitled "Unity against the Epidemic and Overcome Difficulties Together". The summit was jointly initiated by China, South Africa, the rotating chairmanship of the African Union, and Senegal, co-chair of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and was held by video. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Ding Haitao
(i)
"At present, the epidemic is still spreading around the world, and both China and Africa are facing the arduous task of fighting the epidemic, stabilizing the economy and ensuring people's livelihood."
This is President Xi Jinping's judgment on the situation in his speech.
Li Wentao, deputy director of the Institute of African Studies of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, said that China and Africa have achieved results in fighting the epidemic, but the uncertainty of the epidemic is obvious, and the global final victory over the epidemic will be a protracted battle. Responding to the impact of the epidemic is still a major event facing China and Africa.
The timing of this special summit is timely. In his speech, President Xi Jinping proposed four "unswerving", the first of which is "unswervingly working together to fight the epidemic".
In fact, since the outbreak of the epidemic, China and Africa have always stood in solidarity with each other and fought side by side. From African countries sending valuable support to China in a difficult time, to China's delivery of medical aid to more than 50 African countries and the African Union, and the dispatch of 7 medical expert teams, the two sides have shown the world what is meant by "brotherhood and one heart, and its profits are broken".
In his speech at the opening ceremony of the World Health Assembly last month, President Xi Jinping specifically proposed to "increase support for African countries"; at this special summit, he announced a series of actions to support Africa's fight against the epidemic, including "starting the construction of the headquarters of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention within the year ahead of schedule" and "after the development of the new crown vaccine is completed and put into use, he is willing to take the lead in benefiting African countries" and so on.
"As the continent with the greatest concentration of developing countries, Africa is a weak link in the global public health system." Li Wentao said that China advocates the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of life, and helping African brothers to build a solid defense line to safeguard the safety and health of the people is the proper meaning of the China-Africa community of common destiny.
(ii)
The second "unswerving" proposed by President Xi Jinping is to "unswervingly promote China-Africa cooperation."
He said that in order to overcome the impact of the epidemic, we should strengthen cooperation in jointly building the "Belt and Road", accelerate the implementation of the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and focus cooperation on health and hygiene, resumption of work and production, and improvement of people's livelihood.
Focusing on the practical difficulties faced by African countries, China has put forward a series of down-to-earth measures and initiatives -
Under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, we will cancel the debt of interest-free loans to China due by the end of 2020 from relevant African countries; work with the international community to increase support for African countries with particularly severe epidemics and great pressure; support the construction of free trade zones on the African continent; support Africa in strengthening interconnection and ensuring the construction of industrial chain supply chains; and jointly expand cooperation in new formats such as digital economy, smart cities, clean energy, and 5G...
Liu Haifang, director of the Center for African Studies at Peking University, said that the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation decided to implement the "Eight Actions", outlining a roadmap for promoting China-Africa cooperation and promoting Africa's development and revitalization. In response to the impact of the epidemic, China has also announced a package of new actions that take into account the urgent needs of the fight against the epidemic and the needs of post-epidemic development, which fully demonstrates that China's policy towards Africa is sincere and consistent.
"The global epidemic situation is severe and complex, and the challenges and difficulties cannot be underestimated." Li Wentao said that Africa's development is closely related to China. Under the epidemic, the economic development of both sides is facing considerable pressure. This special summit conveys confidence to Africa: China will firmly support Africa in resuming work and production in an orderly manner, developing its economy and improving people's livelihood.
(iii)
The other two "unswerving" are "unswervingly practicing multilateralism" and "unswervingly promoting China-Africa friendship."
"This special summit held at a special time has further demonstrated China's diplomatic policy." Liu Haifang said that at a time when the epidemic has profoundly affected the international order, the convening of the special summit itself shows that China, as always, firmly supports multilateralism and stands closely with the vast number of developing countries.
This is also reflected in the list of participants at the special summit – in addition to the leaders of China and more than a dozen African countries, the chairman of the AU Commission, there are two special guests from multilateral international organizations: UN Secretary-General António Guterres and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
In his speech, President Xi Jinping clearly pointed out that China is willing to work with Africa to safeguard the global governance system with the United Nations as the core and support WHO in making greater contributions to the global fight against the epidemic.
Zhang Lili, director of the Center for Contemporary China Diplomacy Research at the China Foreign Affairs University, said that in the face of the virus, the common enemy of all mankind, the international community should have united as one, but politicians from individual Western countries have unjustifiably smeared China and relevant international organizations. At this critical juncture, African countries have given China valuable understanding and great support.
The meeting issued the Joint Statement of the Special Summit on China-Africa Solidarity against the Epidemic, reiterating its opposition to the politicization and labeling of the epidemic and calling on the international community to work together to prevent discrimination and stigmatization. In addition, it was clearly proposed to continue to support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and major concerns.
"Mutual political support has always been a clear background for China-Africa friendship." Li Wentao said that under the background of the rise of unilateralism and the still grim global anti-epidemic situation, the largest developing country and the continent with the largest concentration of developing countries have declared solidarity and cooperation, injecting greater confidence into the overcoming difficulties of all mankind. (Reporters Yang Yijun, Wu Yue, Zou Duowei, Luo Xin)