On October 27, Acting Consul General of China in Johannesburg Zhou Yujiang published signed article on Business Day and Sowetan titled Ndiwelimilambo Enamagama——What ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ delivers to us?
The full text is as follows:
Over 2,100 years ago, Zhang Qian, a Han Dynasty envoy, made his journey to the West from China and opened the transcontinental passage connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, known today as the Silk Road. About 600 years ago, Zheng He, a famous Chinese navigator in the Ming Dynasty, made seven voyages to the Western Seas, leaving a feat of Maritime Silk Road. Spanning thousands of miles and years, the ancient silk routes were not only routes for trade but also roads for cultural exchanges. They made a great contribution to human progress.
In 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the initiatives of building a Silk Road Economic Belt and a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI). The BRI is a creative development that takes on and carries forward the spirit of the two great achievements in human history and civilization. BRI aims to enhance connectivity of policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people bonds between nations, so as to inject new impetus into the global economy, create new opportunities for global development, and build a new platform for international economic cooperation.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI. Over the past decade, the BRI has become the most popular international public good and the largest international cooperation platform in today's world. Guided by the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, the BRI has tremendously benefited the 150 plus participating countries. Trade in goods between China and these countries grew from US$1.04 trillion to US$2.07 trillion, which means an average 8% annual growth. Direct two-way investment exceeded US$270 billion. The BRI has also galvanized nearly US$1 trillion of investment, with more than 3,000 cooperation projects launched and 421,000 jobs created in the participating countries. A World Bank report suggests that by 2030, BRI projects could help lift 7.6 million people out of extreme poverty and 32 million people out of moderate poverty across the world. Also, the initiative is expected to increase trade volume of the participating countries by 2.8%-9.7%, global trade by 1.7%-6.2% and global income by 0.7%-2.9%.
Last week, the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) was successfully concluded in Beijing. In his keynote speech to the delegates from 151 countries including South Africa, President Xi Jinping reviewed the achievements and experience of the past ten years, and announced eight major steps China will take to support high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. These include steps to build a multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network, promote green development, and advance scientific and technological innovation. They also include specific projects of practical cooperation, such as two Chinese banks each setting up a RMB 350 billion financing window, an additional RMB 80 billion being injected into the Silk Road Fund, 1,000 small-scale livelihood assistance projects and many other projects. During this BRF, 458 concrete outcomes have been reached, far exceeding the last Forum. Commercial contracts worth 97.2 billion U.S. dollars have been concluded at the CEO Conference, which will greatly help generate jobs and economic growth in relevant countries. These tangible cooperation outcomes will certainly provide sustained impetus for global growth and common development across the world.
To meet people’s ever-increasing needs for a better life is the top priority of all countries, especially the developing countries. And achieving modernization is the right path forward. In the current world which is confronted with sluggish economic recovery and security challenges, what we need is neither rivalry nor confrontation, neither decoupling nor supply chains disruption, but peaceful development and win-win cooperation.
The Belt and Road Cooperation is a road of peace. The BRI discards the Cold War mentality of ideological rivalry and geopolitical competition. Instead, it aims to offer a fundamental approach to lasting peace and universal security. As the initiator of the BRI, China passionately campaigns for the establishment of a new model of international relations characterized by mutual respect, equity, justice, and win-win cooperation. It is committed to building partnerships based on dialogue rather than confrontation, and friendship rather than alliance. It is committed to fostering a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security. These efforts help to create a peaceful and stable development environment.
The Belt and Road Cooperation is a ‘symphony’ played by all parties. Based on the principle of “planning together, building together, and benefiting together”, all parties share common responsibilities and benefits. Regardless of size, strength and wealth, all countries participate on an equal footing and can provide opinions and proposals in bilateral and multilateral cooperation. All parties can leverage their respective resources and potential advantages, ignite their own growth engines, grow their capacity for independent development, and collectively create more opportunities and space for development.
The Belt and Road Cooperation is the ‘golden key’ to development and prosperity. The modernization path China pursues is not a path for China to go alone, but for all developing countries to go together through joint efforts. The BRI has provided a platform for common development, a platform that can effectively synergized development strategies and practical demands among partners, a platform that can help partner countries transform their own advantages into tangible fruits of development so that they could achieve modernization at a faster pace.
China and Africa have always been supporting and standing alongside each other. In the long past, the ancient silk routes brought Chinese tea, porcelain and development experience to Africa, enhancing the friendship and cultural exchanges between China and Africa. Today, as it pursues its modernization, China would like to join hands and share its development opportunities with its African brothers through the Belt and Road cooperation.
South Africa is the first African country that signs an inter-governmental MOU on Belt and Road cooperation. Over the years, the BRI has synergized smoothly with South Africa’s Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. Fruitful results of China-South African win-win cooperation has become successful examples of Belt and Road cooperation in Africa and South-south cooperation. Longyuan Power, a Chinese enterprise, invested and constructed the De Aar Wind Power Projects in Northern Cape Province in 2017. The project provides 750 million KW hours of clean electricity per year, equivalent to saving 215 800 tons of standard coal, reducing over 700,000 tons of CO2 emission and meeting the electricity needs of 300,000 local households. The Hengtong Group, another Chinese enterprise, has been sending South African students to China for skill training and providing them with jobs back in SA after its acquisition of Aberdare Cables located in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng Province, which created 1,500 jobs for local communities.
In August, President Xi Jinping was welcomed in South Africa for the BRICS Summit and a state visit to SA. During that visit, our two leaders witnessed the signing of a bilateral cooperation document on Belt and Road cooperation. As China-South African relations entering a ‘golden era’, our win-win cooperation enjoys broad prospects and a promising future.
Gauteng and Free State, the two provinces under the consular jurisdiction of the Chinese Consulate-General in Johannesburg, have had active cooperation with their Chinese counterparts under the BRI umbrella and have shared development opportunities. In June, Premier Lesufi of Gauteng led a delegation to Chongqing, Zhejiang, Shanghai and Beijing of China. In September, Premier Dukwana of the Free State led his delegation to visit Jiangsu and Jiangxi Provinces. During their visits, the two sides have reached a series of consensus on cooperation ranging from infrastructure, trade, energy, transportation, education, health and tourism, etc. Both of the development plans of the two provinces, Growing Gauteng Together 2030 (GGT2030) and the Free State Growth and Development Strategy, list infrastructure development, mining, renewable energy and digital economy as its goals. They are highly consistent with the eight major steps announced by President Xi Jinping during the recent BRF. The consistency guarantees more opportunities for our provincial level exchanges and cooperation. The Chinese Consulate General in Johannesburg stands ready to work together with Gauteng and Free State to seize the opportunities of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation so as to better realize their respective development goals.
As a famous quote by Nelson Mandela goes, ‘Ndiwelimilambo Enamagama’ (Xhosa proverb, meaning ‘I have crossed famous rivers’. Both literal and figurative, it means that one has travelled a great distance, had wide experience, and gained some wisdom from it). With our dedicated cooperation, the BRI has crossed the great river of the past decade and has borne fruitful outcomes. At this new historical starting point, China looks forward to joining hands with all parties to carry forward the spirit of the Silk Road, to setting sail again for high quality Belt and Road cooperation to usher in a brighter future for all.