CHEN XIAODONG
THIS year, the CPC celebrated its centenary and delivered a great performance for the people.
General Secretary Xi Jinping declared at the grand gathering celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the CPC that China has fulfilled the first centenary goal.
We have built a moderately prosperous society in all respects and brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty.
We are moving forward with vigour toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.
Common prosperity is an important feature of China’s modernization.
The CPC has always adhered to a people-centred development philosophy. We work to make sure that the fruits of development benefit all in a fair manner and to promote common prosperity with high-quality development.
This year, the 14th Five-Year Plan was successfully launched, and the new development philosophy is leading China toward greater achievements.
Even as the COVID pandemic intensified the sluggish world recovery, China’s economy continued to maintain its growth momentum. It has become the anchor and the driving force for global economic recovery.
In the first half of this year, China’s GDP reached around 8.2 trillion US dollars, up by 12.7 percent year on year.
In the first eight months of this year, China’s total foreign trade value reached 3.83 trillion US dollars, up 34.2 percent year-on-year. This is a record high growth for the same period in history.
Foreign trade provided strong support for China’s economic recovery and development, and also injected strong momentum into world recovery, including that of South Africa.
Remarkable achievements were also made in science and technology.
The Tianwen 1 probe successfully landed on Mars. The Shenzhou 12 manned spacecraft with three Chinese “Taikonauts” was also successfully launched and docked with the Tianhe core module of China’s “Tiangong” space station.
After 90 days of work and life in the space station, the Taikonauts returned to Earth safe and sound ten days ago.
These milestone major achievements one after another show that China is making important breakthroughs in key and core technologies, which will help us achieve a high level of self-reliance on this front.
This year, China worked hard for a community with a shared future with the world and we showed extraordinary commitment to addressing global challenges.
President Xi Jinping put forward four proposals in his statement at the General Debate of the 76th Session of the UNGA, which point the way forward for the world and demonstrate the wisdom and global vision of a major country’s leader.
First, we must beat COVID-19 and win this decisive fight crucial to the future of humanity.
China will strive to provide a total of two billion doses of vaccines to the world by the end of this year.
In addition to donating 100 million US dollars to COVAX, China will donate 100 million doses of vaccines to other developing countries in the course of this year.
China will continue to support and engage in global science-based origin-tracing, and stands firmly opposed to political maneuvering in whatever form.
Second, we must revitalize the economy and pursue more robust, greener and more balanced global development.
China will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.
We will step up support for other developing countries in developing green and low-carbon energy, and will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.
Once again, China has pledged an additional three billion US dollars of international assistance in the next three years to support developing countries in responding to COVID-19 and promoting economic and social recovery.
Third, we must strengthen solidarity and promote mutual respect and win-win cooperation in conducting international relations.
We need to advocate the common values of humanity, and reject the practice of forming small circles or zero-sum games.
We need to pursue dialogue and inclusiveness over confrontation and exclusion.
We need to build a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equity, justice and win-win cooperation, and do the best we can to expand the convergence of our interests and achieve the biggest synergy possible.
Fourth, we must improve global governance and practice true multilateralism.
In the world, there is only one international system, which is the international system with the United Nations at its core. There is only one international order, and that is the international order underpinned by international law.
And there is only one set of rules. They are the basic norms governing international relations underpinned by the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
It is important to hold high the banner of true multilateralism and stay committed to ensuring a stable international order, to increase the representation and say of developing countries in international affairs and to practice true multilateralism.
It has been exactly one year since I became Chinese Ambassador to South Africa.
My memories still take me back to the exciting and happy moment when I set foot in the rainbow nation last year.
Over the past year, I have had the honor to witness the remarkable achievements of the South African government in national development.
This year, the government persisted in putting life first and fought against the virus according to science. The virus was put under effective control and vaccination moved forward steadily.
This year, the government focused on development and people’s livelihood and the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan was implemented in an orderly manner.
This year, the government stood firm for justice and fairness in international affairs, defended multilateralism, promoted cooperation in COVID response and contributed to defending the interests of the majority of developing countries.
This has demonstrated South Africa’s sense of responsibility as a major country.
Over the past 23 years of diplomatic ties, under the joint guidance of leaders of the two countries and especially President Xi Jinping and President Cyril Ramaphosa, the two countries have deepened mutual political trust.
We continued to expand practical cooperation and there has been dynamic cooperation in people-to-people exchanges and closer collaboration in international affairs.
The comprehensive strategic partnership between our two countries has continued to develop and we are delivering a higher level of cooperation on all fronts.
With the leadership of our two heads of state, mutual political trust continued to deepen.
This year, President Xi Jinping and President Ramaphosa have exchanged letters and attended meetings to discuss China-South Africa cooperation.
It is especially worth noting that when the CPC celebrated its centenary, President Ramaphosa as ANC President, sent a congratulatory letter to General Secretary Xi Jinping.
He also attended the CPC and World Political Parties Summit and delivered a warm speech that highlighted the deep traditional friendship between the two parties and countries.
His remarks deepened the exchange of experiences in party and state governance between the two sides, which is of great significance for both China and South Africa to face challenges and seek development together.
Under COVID-19, the economic, trade and investment cooperation between our two countries has become the biggest highlight of China-South Africa cooperation.
From January to August this year, bilateral trade between China and South Africa reached nearly $35-billion, up by over 65 percent year on year.
Of that trade volume, South African exports to China reached nearly $22-billion, up by over 80 percent year on year. These figures show a strong vitality and momentum for growth.
On investment, according to current statistics, China’s total investment in South Africa has exceeded $25-billion. This has created more than 400 000 local jobs.
A number of Chinese-invested enterprises such as Huawei SA and the BAIC Group actively fulfilled their social responsibilities and contributed significantly to local economic and social development.
As we speak, the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo is underway in China and South Africa is also one of the guest countries of honor.
We look forward to more high-quality citrus, beef, wine and other high-quality agricultural exports from South Africa entering the Chinese market.
Our two people have been looking out for each other and fighting against COVID-19 together.
China firmly supports South Africa in the fight against the virus. As an important part of building the BRICS vaccine research and development center, China’s Sinovac vaccine is conducting pediatric clinical trials in South Africa.
For some time, the ANC, the SACP, the ANC Women’s League, SASCO and other organizations have issued statements, and many government officials, experts and scholars have spoken out to support science-based COVID-19 origin-tracing.
They spoke out against political manipulation, which injects strong positive energy into China-Africa and global cooperation against the virus.
Our two countries maintained close coordination on multilateral occasions to set a fine example of South-South cooperation.
China and South Africa firmly support true multilateralism. We both oppose unilateralism and protectionism.
Our two heads of state jointly attended the 13th BRICS Summit, which injected new momentum for the five countries and the world to work together to fight COVID-19, restore the economy and maintain stability.
South Africa has many times made statements at the UN Human Rights Council sessions in support of China’s position for justice.
Our two countries coordinate and cooperate with each other in the UN, G20 and other multilateral occasions. We actively practice multilateralism, and jointly safeguard the shared interests of the majority of developing countries.
Looking ahead, the Chinese side is ready to work with the South African side to deliver the common understandings of our two leaders to promote cooperation across the board.
We are ready to work with South Africa to jointly hold a successful event on China-Africa cooperation, make the pie of economic and trade cooperation bigger, build bridges of communication and exchanges between our two people and support true multilateralism.
We will make concrete efforts for advancing a closer China-South Africa and China-Africa community with a shared future.
