China really stands with Africa during COVID-19 crisis, says Kenyan party leader

The China-Africa friendship has most recently been magnified by the quick response and massive resource mobilization for Africa after the first COVID-19 cases were reported in the continent in March, a Kenyan party leader has said.

Africa is not only impressed by responses from the Chinese government but also Chinese private sector players like Alibaba and mobile phone manufacturer Tecno Mobile among others, Secretary General of Kenya’s ruling Jubilee party Raphael Tuju told Xinhua in an interview.

Regarding the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity against COVID-19 held via video link on June 17, Tuju said: “We want to thank the Chinese government for the commitments it outlined during the meeting between President Xi Jinping and African presidents. China has really stood with Africa during this time of crisis.”

He said that China’s commitments on helping improve Africa’s health infrastructure and restructuring some of the debts are most welcome. “Africa has also been very touched by the promise that once the vaccine is available, China will ensure that it is easily accessible and affordable across Africa,” he said.

Tuju also praised China for its “impressive and amazing” response to COVID-19 at home. “One of the insights we now have is that decentralization of services in China works perfectly. Public records system also works in China. This is why contact tracing worked very well,” he said.

On China’s development under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Tuju said China provides a very important model for Africa in the sense that it is possible to come out of poverty and create a prosperous community across the continent.

“Sometimes, it looks like an impossibility and people tend to give up along the way, but hasn’t China done and is still doing it? So we admire the resolve of President Xi and see him as one of the greatest modern leaders of China whose philosophy will be a subject of studies many more years to come,” he said.

Tuju said the success in fighting corruption by the CPC lies in its sustention and punishment for corrupt officials. “Another success factor has also been guidelines issued by the party on ways to stop or avoid corruption. These guidelines and their review from time to time are important because they provide direction of not committing corruption,” said the party leader.

As regards China’s role in global multilateralism and “building a community with a shared future for mankind,” Tuju said China’s support for the World Health Organization illustrates the realization of this concept.
“We must not let our political divisions or pandemics reduce our growing fabric as a global village,” he said.

“In Africa, we have seen China engage more on the Belt and Road initiative. The outcome is more development, better infrastructure, easing the cost of doing business, creating more employment and efficient economies,” he said.
“These, therefore, help in creating a global community of empowered people. It will help create social equity across the world,” the party official added.

Source: Xinhua