H.E. Tong Defa writes: Sincerity, friendship and equality: written in an era of global economic turbulence

As the world economy faces severe challenges of rising unilateralism and a trade war looms large on the prospects of global economic recovery, a certain country’s tariff policy makes the international landscape more uncertain.

Amidst the world today undergoing major changes unseen in a century and transformative shifts in the global economic governance system, China continues to deepen the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith for China’s Africa policy and the principle of pursuing the greater good and shared interests and advances institutional opening-up to jointly forge an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.

At the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held on 5th September 2024, President Xi Jinping announced that China would voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider and decided to give all LDCs (Least Developed Countries) having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100% of tariff lines.

This move marks China becoming the first G20 member to fully cover zero-tariff treatment for LDCs. Previously, China has maintained a zero-tariff on 98% of products with tariff lines originating from 27 African LDCs, signed Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with 34 African countries, and signed the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) with 21 African countries. China has built up a multi-dimensional institutional framework covering market access, investment protection and tax coordination, thereby helping China-Africa economic and trade cooperation to improve quality and upgrade.

In 2024, the total trade volume between China and Africa reached 295.5 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. Export of electric vehicles has grown substantially, reflecting China’s emphasis on cooperation with African countries in the areas of green energy.

It is expected that China-Africa trade volume will steadily increase to over 300 billion US dollars in 2025, and China-Africa economic and trade cooperation still has endless potential and bright prospects. China has created favourable conditions for African countries’ high-quality products to enter the Chinese market more conveniently and quickly, further boosting Africa’s industrial development and promoting job growth and poverty reduction. China has also established and expanded “green channels” for African agricultural products to be exported to China and facilitated the participation of African enterprises in large-scale exhibitions such as China’s Canton Fair, the International Import Expo and the International Supply Chain Expo. Also, China will construct digital silk roads for African speciality products to connect to the world market.

Recently, a certain country used tariffs as a weapon to exert maximum pressure for its own selfish gains, which severely hurts the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, violates the WTO rules, sabotages the rules-based multilateral trading regime, and destabilises the global economic order.

As a member of the Global South, China has always insisted on “joining hands” with each other instead of “letting go” of each other’s hands, “tearing down walls” instead of “erecting walls”, and firmly helping each other with African brothers, including Ghana, to promote win-win cooperation with practical actions.

On 3rd April, the Association of China (Ghana) Mining LBG was established in the presence of Hon. Buah, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and other senior officials, which is an important milestone in China-Ghana mining cooperation.

It will strongly support Ghana’s economic development and improve people’s livelihoods.

As the co-chair of the Official Creditor Committee for Ghana, China played an active coordinating role and worked constructively to facilitate the proper settlement of Ghana’s debt issue. In the process of universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation, China will work with Ghana to share the fruits of development for the benefit of both peoples.

The 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo will be held in Changsha, Hunan Province, from 12th to 15th June.

By then, China will provide more cooperation opportunities for African state-owned and private sectors in areas including clean energy, energy conservation and environmental protection, traditional medicine, cross-border e-commerce, modern agricultural machinery and construction machinery.

I believe China will continue to promote the implementation of pragmatic initiatives such as tariff reduction and exemption, trade facilitation arrangements and trade exhibitions, proving with facts that China will always be Africa’s good friend, good partner and good brother.

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