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Sincerity, Friendship and Equality: Written in An Era of Global
Economic Turbulence
(by H.E. Tong Defa, Ambassador of China to Ghana)
As the world economy faces severe challenges of rising unilateralism
and a trade war looms large on the prospects of global economic recovery,
certain country’s tariff policy makes the international landscape more
uncertain. Amidst the world today undergoing major changes unseen in a century
and transformative shifts in the global economic governance system, China
continues to deepen the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good
faith for China’s Africa policy and the principle of pursuing the greater good
and shared interests, and advances institutional opening-up to jointly forge an
all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era. At the
Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held on 5th
September 2024, President Xi Jinping announced that China would voluntarily and
unilaterally open its market wider, and decided to give all LDCs (Least
Developed Countries) having diplomatic relations with China, including 33
countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100% tariff lines. This move
marks China becoming the first G20 member to fully cover zero-tariff treatment
for LDCs. Previously, China has maintained zero-tariff on 98% products with
tariff lines originating from 27 African LDCs, signed Bilateral Investment
Treaties (BITs) with 34 African countries, and signed the Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreements （DTAA) with 21 African countries. China
has built up a multi-dimensional institutional framework covering market
access, investment protection and tax coordination, thereby helping
China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to improve quality and upgrade.
In 2024, the total trade volume between China and Africa reached
295.5 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. Export of electric
vehicles have grown substantially, reflecting China’s emphasis on cooperation
with African countries in the areas of green energy. It is expected that
China-Africa trade volume will steadily increase to over 300 billion US dollars
in 2025, and China-Africa economic and trade cooperation still has endless
potential and bright prospects. China has created favourable conditions for
African countries’ high-quality products to enter the Chinese market more
conveniently and quickly, further boosting Africa’s industrial development,
promoting job growth and poverty reduction. China has also established and
expanded “green channels” for African agricultural products to be exported to
China, facilitated the participation of African enterprises in large-scale
exhibitions such as China’s Canton Fair, the International Import Expo and the
International Supply Chain Expo. Also, China will construct digital silk roads
for African specialty products to connect to the world market.
Recently, certain countries used tariffs as a weapon to exert maximum
pressure for its own selfish gains, which severely hurts the legitimate rights
and interests of all countries, violates the WTO rules, sabotages the
rules-based multilateral trading regime, and destabilizes the global economic
order. As a member of the Global South, China has always insisted on “joining
hands” with each other instead of “letting go” of each other’s hands, “tearing
down walls”, not to “erecting walls”, and firmly helping each other with
African brothers including Ghana, to promote win-win cooperation with practical
actions. On 3rd April, the Association of China (Ghana) Mining LBG
was established in the presence of Hon. Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural
Resources and other senior officials, which is an important milestone in
China-Ghana mining cooperation. It will strongly support Ghana’s economic
development and improve people’s livelihood. As the co-chair of the Official
Creditor Committee for Ghana, China played an active coordinating role and
worked constructively to facilitate the proper settlement of Ghana’s debt
issue. In the process of universally beneficial and inclusive economic
globalization, China will work with Ghana to share the fruits of development
for the benefit of both peoples.
The 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo will be held
in Changsha, Hunan Province, from 12th to 15th June. By
then, China will provide more cooperation opportunities for African state-owned
and private sectors in areas including clean energy, energy conservation and
environmental protection, traditional medicine, cross-border e-commerce, modern
agricultural machinery and construction machinery. I believe China will
continue to promote the implementation of pragmatic initiatives such as tariff
reduction and exemption, trade facilitation arrangements and trade exhibitions,
proving with facts that China will always be Africa’s good friend, good partner
and good brother.