On the morning of September 3, 2024, President Xi Jinping met with Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Moussa Faki Mahamat, who is in China for the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Xi Jinping pointed out that the African Union (AU) is a banner for Africa to seek strength through unity and an important platform for conducting international cooperation. In recent years, China and the AU have continued to deepen political mutual trust and maintained close coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs. Xi Jinping said that he is glad to see that the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, aided by China for the AU, has been established and put into operation, contributing to Africa’s health cause as well as African people’s health and well-being. China supports the AU in playing a greater role in the cause of China-Africa friendship, and is ready to take this FOCAC Summit as an opportunity to push for more outcomes of China-AU cooperation in various fields and promote the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future to a new level.
Xi Jinping stressed that the current transformations of the world unseen in a century are unfolding at a faster pace. The Global South, including China and Africa, is growing stronger, injecting stability and positive energy into world peace and development. Africa is an important pole in the world and an important priority in China’s diplomacy. China is ready to enhance political exchanges with Africa, deepen strategic mutual trust, strengthen practical cooperation, share development experience and promote common development. Xi Jinping called on the two sides to strengthen solidarity and coordination, firmly support each other, advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice and the common interests of developing countries.
Moussa Faki Mahamat said that during his eight years as AUC Chairperson, he has witnessed the rapid growth of AU-China relations. He thanked the Chinese side, especially President Xi Jinping, for his outstanding leadership in promoting the development of the Africa-China partnership and the FOCAC institutional development. For more than half a century, China has been firmly supporting Africa’s struggle against colonialism, imperialism and racial discrimination, providing valuable assistance to African countries in various fields such as infrastructure, health, energy, industry and security, and taking the lead in supporting the AU’s accession to the G20, which the African side highly appreciates and sincerely thanks. For this reason, the African side firmly pursues the one-China policy and firmly supports China in safeguarding its core interests. The Belt and Road Initiative, the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and other series of major initiatives put forward by President Xi Jinping are committed to helping people of all countries share peace and development opportunities, which is crucial to strengthening solidarity and cooperation among countries in the Global South and making the global governance system fairer and more equitable. The African side expects China to continue playing a key leading role and make greater contributions to helping Africa achieve modernization and world peace and development.
Wang Yi was present at the meeting.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Namibia.