Pretoria - As the African continent marks Africa Day under the dark cloud of Covid-19, the Chinese embassy in Pretoria has called for intensified co-operation in the fight against the pandemic.
“China and Africa have always been good brothers and partners who share weal and woe together. We are in a China-Africa community with a shared future. As the pandemic poses serious challenges to Africa’s peaceful development, our hearts go all out to Africa,” said China’s ambassador to South Africa, Chen Xiaodong.
“We aim to build consensus and synergy, to work with African countries to defeat the virus, carry out post-Covid reconstruction, eliminate the root causes of conflicts, and inject new impetus for lasting peace and sustainable development in Africa.”
Last week, at the initiative of China, which holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month, the council held an open debate on the topic, Peace and Security in Africa: Addressing Root Causes of Conflict in Post-Pandemic Recovery in Africa, via a video link.
The meeting was chaired by Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and attended by the foreign ministers of France, India, Tunisia, Ireland, Estonia and Vietnam, as well as senior representatives from Kenya, Norway, Russia, the US, the UK, Mexico, Niger, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
“At the meeting, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi put forward a four-point proposal, namely to help Africa reduce the gap in Covid-19 response, tackle the peace deficit, narrow the development gap and redress injustice in global governance,” said Chen.
In his weekly opinion piece, President Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday the pandemic had made people already suffering from the effects of conflict, underdevelopment and poverty even more vulnerable, and added that African economies had been severely damaged.
Pretoria News