Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held on Thursday. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote address titled "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a Community with a Shared Future." President Xi proposed that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations, and that the overall characterization of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. The Summit adopted the Beijing Declaration on Jointly Building an All-Weather China-Africa Community with a Shared Future for the New Era and the Beijing Action Plan (2025-2027) of FOCAC. China-Africa cooperation has opened a new chapter in the history of jointly advancing modernization. 

President Xi stressed that China and Africa account for one-third of the world population. Without our modernization, there will be no global modernization. In the next three years, China will work with Africa to take the following 10 partnership actions for modernization to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead the Global South modernization. By closely connecting the future of China and Africa through the theme of modernization, the development momentum will be generated. The global vision embodied in this blueprint, and the vast creativity and potential it contains serves as a model and source of inspiration for the Global South as well as the entire world. The momentum is boundless.

In the 10 partnership actions, Xi announced that China has decided to give all least developed countries (LDCs) having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines. This is a proactive, unilateral move by China to expand its market access. China is the first developing country and major global economy to implement such an initiative, demonstrating that in promoting development with the world, China is creating opportunities and achieving win-win outcomes without any hidden agenda, any geopolitical self-interest, or any conditions attached. If China-Africa cooperation is like a mirror, what people see in it is not only enormous development opportunities, but also China's genuine goodwill and global vision.

And this is just an epitome of China-Africa cooperation. The 10 partnership actions cover a wide range of areas, from mutual learning, trade prosperity, and infrastructure development to healthcare, agricultural collaboration, people-to-people exchanges, green development, and common security. For example, it highlights that China will provide 60,000 training opportunities to Africa, mainly for women and youths, which is aimed at addressing the career development concerns of African youths and cultivating a new generation of talent for Africa. 

China will also send 500 agricultural experts, and establish a China-Africa agricultural science and technology innovation alliance, addressing issues of food security and self-sufficiency in Africa in the context of global climate change. The 10 partnership actions are concrete, aimed at providing feasible solutions to specific problems.
China is serious and responsible in fulfilling its commitment to Africa. It is not difficult to see from the 10 partnership actions that China has been committed to helping African countries achieve political stability and social stability. On the foundation of stability, China helps African countries seek long-term sustainable development, focusing not only on solving the longstanding issues that hinder Africa's development but also on new pathways that advance Africa's future progress. This indicates that the China-Africa community with a shared future is by no means a temporary plan; rather, it transcends specific moments and events, genuinely focusing on the overall development of Africa. This is why it possesses a vigorous and inexhaustible driving force and demonstrates strong resilience.

The exploration of building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future holds significant global and contemporary importance. Developing countries face a variety of real challenges and are easily affected by the complex and changing international situation, which can disrupt or even hinder the achievement of established goals. If China-Africa cooperation can carve out a new path for South-South cooperation, it would be a tremendous encouragement for countries in the Global South. This would provide a fresh perspective on addressing global development issues and has positive implications for demonstration and promotion.

China has a population of over 1.4 billion, and Africa also has a population of over 1.4 billion. Such a huge modernization process is unprecedented in the history of human civilization. China has a firm determination that "on the path to modernization, no one, and no country, should be left behind." This vision as a major country will write a new chapter in the history of human development, making the future of modernization in the Global South promising, and it will also promote a bright prospect for the world toward peace, security, prosperity and progress.