Independence and Collaboration for Common Development

This is an era of challenges, where major changes unseen in a century unfold ever faster. This is an era of hope too, where developing countries rise collectively. How to find the right development path, and achieve common development through solidarity and cooperation? That is the question that must be answered as China and Africa work for a high-level community with a shared future.

I. Africa in an unstoppable “Second Awakening”

Pan-Africanism has propelled Africa’s quest for independence and development. In the 1950s, leaders in Africa such as Kwame Nkrumah and Ahmed Sékou Touré held high the banner of Pan-Africanism and led struggles that realized national liberation and independence for African countries. In the post-Cold War world, the international political and economic landscapes experienced profound change, and African countries became more conscious of the need to stay united in order to grow stronger. From the African Union's Agenda 2063 to the African Continental Free Trade Area, Pan-Africanism continues to contribute its part as the continent seeks strength through unity.

Having gained political independence, African countries began to pursue economic independence and self-driven growth. This amounts to a second historic awakening of Africa. At the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union, African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat called for “a true renaissance of nationalism and Pan-Africanism.” As a precious political legacy of Africa and an unstoppable trend of the times, Pan-Africanism is bound to become a powerful driving force for African countries’ endeavor to seek strength and faster development through unity.

II. Independence—a common pursuit of China and Africa

“We have here, in Africa, everything necessary to become a powerful, modern, industrialized continent,” wrote President Kwame Nkrumah in his 1963 book Africa Must Unite. It is unfortunate that after winning political independence, Africa has been subject to numerous economic challenges, as the West peddled the “Washington Consensus” and neoliberalism doctrines that locked the continent at the lower end of the global industrial and value chains, aggravating the inequality and exploitation Africa was already living with in the global economy. According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2022, more than three quarters of African economies depend on primary commodity exports for over 70 percent of their total merchandise export revenues. The model imposed from outside on Africa has not brought development or improved living conditions to the African people,but instead turmoil and poverty.

For a country to master its own destiny, it must rely on its own effort for development. In the “Africa-China Dar es Salaam Consensus” released at the 13th China-Africa Think Tank Forum 2024 held in Tanzania last March, Chinese and African scholars call for exploring independent, people-centered paths based on a country’s cultural characteristics and through mutual respect and mutual learning. The consensus was regarded by many academics as the first-ever international consensus born in the South instead of imposed by the North, one that transcends Western development theories and narratives and expresses the shared aspiration of China, Africa and the wider Global South.

III. A faster African modernization supported by Chinese experience

Chinese modernization, a development path charted by the Chinese people through 75 years of hard work, stands as a new option different from Western modernization for developing countries who want to maintain their independence while growing faster. Chinese modernization advocates common prosperity and win-win cooperation. It is our genuine hope that Africa board the express train of Chinese modernization and share in the opportunities created by China’s development through stronger cooperation.

In the upcoming autumn, China will host a summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, where Chinese and African leaders will get together for discussions on taking China-Africa cooperation to the next level and keep it up to date. One focus would be exchanging governance experience to speed up modernization. China will, as always, give Africa full support as the continent modernizes in its own way and holds its future destiny firmly in its own hands.

Africa is a land of hope. As China strives to achieve its second centenary goal, Chinese and Africans have every reason to join hands in building a community with a shared future at a high level. The 21st century will witness the common development and revitalization of China and Africa.