Tanzania staunch friend of China in Africa: Chinese FM

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) met with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Palamagamba Kabudi in Chato, Tanzania, on Jan. 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Long Lei)

Tanzania is a staunch friend of China in Africa and holds a special and important place in China’s diplomatic history, visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said here on Friday.

Wang made the remarks at a joint press conference with Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Palamagamba Kabudi, during his official visit to Tanzania.

Wang noted that the story of China-Tanzania friendship is the most vivid memory of every Chinese in their youth.

China will not forget that it was the late Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai, and then Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere who forged the all-weather friendship between China and Tanzania with sincerity, Wang said.

The late Premier Zhou visited Tanzania from thousands of miles apart and President Nyerere visited China 13 times in his life, said Wang, adding that these scenes have forged a historical chapter of China-Tanzania friendship.

China will not forget that more than 50,000 Chinese engineers and technicians who traveled across oceans to Africa and fought side by side with the Tanzanian people to build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway under extremely difficult conditions, said Wang.

During the construction of the railway, which is hailed as a “road of freedom” and “road of friendship”, 65 Chinese experts have sacrificed their precious lives, and their sweat and blood have watered the eternal flower of China-Africa friendship, said Wang.

China will never forget that Tanzania, along with other African brothers, in 1971 helped the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to restore its lawful seat in the United Nations, said Wang.

And former Tanzanian Prime Minister Salim Ahmed Salim, as a representative spearheading the campaign, congratulated the PRC with applause at the venue, which left a record on the UN stage of defying power and upholding justice, Wang noted, adding that as the PRC celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding in 2019, Salim was granted China’s Friendship Medal.

China will never forget that Tanzania was the first African country that President Xi Jinping visited after he took office as the Chinese president in 2013. During that visit, Xi proposed the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and the approach of upholding the values of friendship, justice and shared interests, which is now the guiding principle of China when dealing its relations with Africa, said Wang.

The value of China-Tanzania relations has gone beyond the bilateral scope and played an important role in guiding China-Africa relations and South-South cooperation, he said.

“This is my 15th visit to Africa. What has impressed me most during the trip is that, no matter what kind of international situation, difficulties and obstacles we are facing and no matter what kind of interference or damage we are confronting, the traditional friendship between China and Africa remains unchanged and becomes stronger over time,” said Wang.

China and Africa are comrades-in-arms who share life and death, brothers who care for each other, and partners for common development on the way forward, said Wang.

Noting that as a good friend and true friend of African countries, Wang said China is willing to work with African countries to unswervingly deepen the China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and join hands to forge a closer China-Africa community with a shared future. 

Xinhua News Agency