Think tanks must forge ahead with building a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future

Published: March 10,2024

By Silence Charumbira

Think tanks in China and Africa must seize the opportunity and collaborate “to build a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future”, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Chen Mingjian has said.

Ambassador Chen said this in her keynote address during the 13^th Meeting of The China-Africa Think Tanks Forum in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Friday.

The one-day meeting was attended by representatives of over 100 think tanks from across Africa.

Think tanks meeting held at an opportune time

Ambassador Chen said the forum was held at an opportune time; “the 75^th anniversary of the founding if the People’s Republic of China and the 60^th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Tanzania, a year that will also see the new session of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit”.

Focac will this year be held under the theme: China-Africa Practice: Building a Community with a Shared Future.

She said the theme was highly relevant as China and Africa had a shared desire to explore development paths independently and to work together to build a high-quality China-Africa community with a shared future.

Over the last 10 years, China had stayed committed to the principle of a community with a shared future, she said.

“Together with our African friends and drawing strength from the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, advancing China-Africa relations to the new stage of jointly building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

She said Focac was an important platform for collective dialogue and effective mechanism for practical cooperation between China and Africa. It had also become a distinct brand and great banner of China-Africa cooperation.

China-Africa Think Tanks Forum a key Focac sub-forum

And “as one of the most important sub-forums of Focac, China-Africa Think Tanks Forum has been committed to providing intellectual support for China-Africa relationship and cooperation across the board”.

“In recent years, we have done meaningful things in this area, a series of high-quality dialogue mechanisms including China-Africa Think Tanks Forum have grown more mature, through which we enhance mutual understanding, build up mutual consensus, and receive opinions and recommendations for China-Africa cooperation. I believe, with concerted efforts of all parties, today’s meeting for the new session of FocacSummit, speak with one voice and call upon the international community to fully accommodate the concerns of the Global South, and build up a China-Africa Dar es Salaam Consensus among developing countries ourselves.

Think tanks must collaborate

“As China-Africa relations and cooperation continue to flourish, I see enormous opportunity and great prospects for collaboration between Chinese and African think tanks. We hope and believe that this forum will be a continuing success,” Ambassador Chen said.

One of the speakers during the forum, Paul Frimpong, the director Africa-China Centre for Policy & Advisory, Ghana said unlike the popular perception peddled by detractors and critics alike, “Africa is not a passive partner” to China and “China is not and irresponsible partner”.

He said it was important to challenge the untested perceptions that were meant to tarnish China as Africa’s partner on many fronts. Researchers therefore had the “responsibility of leading engagement helping policymakers” formulate informed policies when it comes to China-Africa relations.

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