#Focac: South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, is a shining pearl on the southern tip of the African continent.
This amazing land with beautiful landscape, rich resources, hard-working people and diverse culture was home to Nelson Mandela and the legend of racial reconciliation that turned bitter confrontation into harmonious coexistence.
Its glorious history of struggling for national liberation through trials and tribulations has given this country a unique and profound appeal that has captured the attention of the world.
Cherishing friendly sentiments for a dear brother, I will once again set foot on the beautiful land of South Africa.
I will be here on a state visit and co-chair with President Jacob Zuma the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac).
As a Chinese saying goes: “Nothing, not even mountains or oceans, can separate people with shared goals and vision.”
Though geographically far apart from each other, the people of China and South Africa have enjoyed a friendship that becomes increasingly solid with the passage of time.
Back in the South African people’s fight against apartheid, the Chinese people firmly supported the just pursuit of equality, freedom and liberation by the South Africans and stood in solidarity with them.
This was the beginning of a deep friendship.
In 1998, China and the new South Africa established diplomatic ties, ushering in a new era of China-South Africa relations.
Over the 17 years since then, China-South Africa relations have developed across the board.
Upgraded from a partnership to a strategic partnership and then to a comprehensive strategic partnership, our relations have made a historic leap forward and become one of the most dynamic and important bilateral ties in our respective foreign relations.
Over the past 17 years, our friendship and co-operation has grown from a small boat to a gigantic vessel, riding the wind and waves and forging ahead towards greater mutual benefit and common development. The China-South Africa relationship is at its best in history.
The strategic importance of this relationship is manifested in the unprecedented level of political mutual trust, increasingly close international co-ordination, fruitful pragmatic co-operation and wide-ranging cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
In 2013, I came to South Africa on my first foreign trip as president of China. In the past three years, President Zuma and I exchanged visits and held meetings on various multilateral occasions.
We have reached a series of important consensus on the development of China-South Africa relations under the new circumstances, identified our bilateral ties as the strategic fulcrum and priority in our respective foreign policies and jointly formulated the China-South Africa Five-to-Ten-Year Strategic Programme for Co-operation, thus injecting strong impetus into the China-South Africa comprehensive strategic partnership.
China-South Africa relations have gone beyond the bilateral scope and gained growing strategic significance and global impact.
China and South Africa, as two major developing countries and emerging market economies, hold identical or similar views on development, security and international order and share broad consensus on major international affairs and hotspot issues.
Our two countries have closely co-ordinated and co-operated with each other in such international organisations and multilateral mechanisms as the UN, G20, Brics and Basic countries.
Our economic co-operation and trade have led to greater convergence of interests.
In 2014, two-way trade reached $60.3 billion, an almost 40-fold increase from the figure at the start of diplomatic engagement.
China has for six years in a row been South Africa’s largest trading partner. Chinese investment in South Africa has risen from zero to $13bn, making South Africa the top destination of Chinese investment in Africa. Projects invested and undertaken by Chinese companies such as industrial parks of home appliances, assembly plants of vehicles and locomotives and cement factories have created over 10 000 jobs for the local communities.
Hisense television sets and refrigerators are a household name in South Africa and Snow Beer produced in China by a Chinese-South African joint venture is very popular among Chinese consumers.
Our two peoples have built a rainbow bridge of friendship.
South Africa has more sister provinces/cities with China and hosts more Confucius institutes and classrooms as well as Chinese students than any other African country.
We held the Year of South Africa and the Year of China in each other’s countries last year and this year respectively, showcasing to the people our development achievements as well as splendid art and culture.
These events, the first of their kind between China and African countries, have been well received and opened a new chapter in China-Africa cultural and people-to-people exchanges.
Seen in the context of China’s friendship with all other countries, 17 years may not seem long.
But thanks to the personal commitment of our top leaders and the tremendous efforts of our two sides, China-South Africa relations, after 17 years of growth, have become a model of solidarity and co-operation between China and Africa and between China and other major developing countries.
An ancient Chinese poem reads: “To see a thousand miles, one should ascend another storey.”
China-South Africa relations now stand at a new historic starting point, with both sides keen to strengthen co-operation.
We stand ready to work together with South Africa and seize the opportunities and momentum to take our comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights to better serve our peoples.
China and South Africa should be forward-looking strategic partners with strong mutual trust.
The two sides should always approach and advance the bilateral relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, continuously cement and enhance political mutual trust, and lay a solid political foundation for sustained and sound growth of our practical co-operation in all fields.
China and South Africa should be development partners pursuing equality, mutual benefit and win-win co-operation.
We should leverage our strengths in political mutual trust and economic complementarity, translate our friendship into a strong boost for practical co-operation, and promote more fruitful co-operation in such key areas as marine economy, production capacity, energy, infrastructure, human resources and finance to deliver more tangible benefits to our peoples.
China and South Africa should be friendly partners who understand and learn from each other.
Friendship begins with knowing and understanding each other. China is ready for closer exchanges and co-operation with South Africa in tourism, culture and education and between our youths, women, think-tanks and media.
We hope more interactions between our peoples will bring them closer to each other. We look forward to having more South African friends to visit China.
China and South Africa should be global partners who support and co-ordinate closely with each other.
China supports South Africa in playing a bigger role in international and regional affairs, and stands ready to enhance co-ordination and co-operation with South Africa in important international mechanisms and major international issues.
We will remain firm defenders of developing countries’ interests and active advocates for world peace, stability and prosperity.
This year bears special significance for the development of China’s relations with not only South Africa but also Africa as a whole.
Another important agenda during my visit to South Africa this time is to co-chair the Focac Johannesburg Summit with President Jacob Zuma. This year marks the 15th anniversary of Focac.
Over the years, this forum has become a crucial platform for collective dialogue between China and Africa and an effective mechanism for closer practical co-operation. It has greatly boosted the common development of China and Africa and brought real benefits to the Chinese and African people alike.
China is the largest developing country and Africa is home to the biggest number of developing countries. China and Africa have always shared a common future.
Today African countries share a common aspiration for faster progress in industrialisation and agricultural modernisation as well as economic independence and sustainable development.
At the same time, China is deepening reform in all respects and advancing economic restructuring, making it better positioned to conduct win-win co-operation with African countries through mutual complementarity. The considerable commonalities between our development strategies represent an unprecedented historical opportunity for expanding our co-operation.
The curtain will soon rise for the Focac Summit in Joburg.
This is the second summit in the 15 years since the forum’s inception, and the first to be held in Africa.
Chinese and African leaders will gather here to renew friendship and explore co-operation, charting the course for China-Africa friendly and practical co-operation in various fields in the next three years, promoting the all-round growth of our co-operation, and taking China-Africa relations to a new high.
The summit will be a milestone in the development of China-Africa relations and send a strong message to the world that China and Africa are working hand in hand for win-win co-operation and common development.
It will outline a new vision of development to the people in China and Africa and around the world.
As the world continues to undergo profound and complex changes and as developing countries acquire growing collective strength, more eyes will be on this vibrant continent of Africa.
We are convinced that the upcoming summit will promote South-South co-operation, encourage North-South dialogue, and help move the international governance system towards greater equity and fairness. We look forward to a complete success of this historic event and a new era of win-win co-operation and common development for China and Africa.
I hope and believe that with our concerted efforts, China-South Africa and China-Africa relations will make still greater progress and the rainbow of China-South Africa and China-Africa friendship and co-operation connecting the two continents of Asia and Africa will display even more splendour.
THE STAR