At the
invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Angolan President Jo Louren is
on a state visit to China from October 8 to 10. President Louren is the first
head of state of an African country to visit China after the Beijing Summit of
the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September.
His visit to
China is the second in just over a month after attending the FOCAC Summit. The
frequent visits between leaders of China and Africa reflect the strength and
depth of China-Africa cooperation as well as the consensus and determination of
both sides to jointly build a community of shared destiny between China and
Africa.
China and
Angola established diplomatic relations on January 12, 1983. Since then,
bilateral relations have developed smoothly.
When Angola's
27-year civil war ended in 2002 and its reconstruction began, the country was
unable to get financing from the International Monetary Fund and Western
countries. Thanks to Chinese capital, technology and projects, Angola ushered
in a period of rapid economic development for more than a decade.
The flags of
Angola and the People's Republic of China are fluttering in the wind at
Tian'anmen Square in Beijing on October 9, 2018. /VCG Photo
Angola once
became China's largest overseas oil exporter. The infrastructure in Angola has
also undergone tremendous changes. Luanda, the capital city, once dark at
night, is now a well-lit pearl on the Atlantic coast. When Xi Jinping, then
vice president of China, visited Angola in 2010, China and Angola officially
established a strategic partnership.
Since the
establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Angola, China has
provided more than 60 billion US dollars in loans to Angola for infrastructure
construction such as power plants, roads, bridges, hospitals and houses. So
far, China has helped Angola build 2,800 kilometers of railways, 20,000
kilometers of roads, 100 schools, 50 hospitals and 100,000 houses.
These efforts
have greatly improved Angola's infrastructure and its people's living
conditions and laid a solid foundation for further economic and social
development. For example, in August 2017, the Caculo-Caba鏰 Hydropower Station
built by Chinese enterprises started construction in the city of Dondo in
Cuanza Norte. It's the largest hydropower station built by Chinese enterprises
in Africa so far and is known as the "Three Gorges Project of
Africa".
It will
greatly reduce the electricity supply and demand gap in Angola and promote
local economic and social development. And after the completion of the project,
the Chinese enterprises will also be responsible for the operation and the
maintenance of the power station for four years and the training of a number of
professional power station managers and technical personnel for Angola.
Angola's
President Joao Lourenco speaks during the 73rd session of the United Nations
General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, US on September 26, 2018. /VCG
Photo
In recent
years, considering the fluctuation in the international oil market, Angola, one
of Africa's most important oil producers, has also begun to work hard to
diversify its national economy and hopes to strengthen its cooperation with
China in the areas of infrastructure, education, science and technology,
electricity, personnel training, agriculture, industry and finance.
China-Angola
partnership has entered a new era of development under the Belt and Road
Initiative. Today, more and more Chinese companies are actively involved in the
development of agriculture and light industry in Angola, helping Angola achieve
diversified economic development by engaging in the construction of industrial
parks and infrastructures.
Western media
once played up China's "debt diplomacy" in Africa, believing that
industrial parks and infrastructure invested by China have increased the debt
of African countries. However, through cooperation with China in the early 21st
Century, Angola, the country once heavily indebted under Western colonial rule,
achieved a double-digit annual average growth rate.
China also
helped Portugal, the former colonial power in Angela out of the economic
conundrum by providing it with loans when Portugal fell into a debt crisis.
This episode
became a high tide of "North-South Cooperation". The story also shows
that it is not a terrible thing to have a certain degree of debt at a
particular stage of development. As long as the money is used for development,
livelihood-enhancing projects and improvement of the investment climate, a
country can not only relieve itself of debt but even help other countries to
cope with the debt crisis.
At the Beijing
Summit in September, China and Angola signed a memorandum of understanding
(MOU) on the Belt and Road Initiative. I believe that China-Angola partnership
will usher in a new era of development with the impetus of the summit and
President Louren's visit to China.
Copy Editor/Zu Chuang
Editor/Kang Sijun
Author: He Wenping is a senior fellow of the Charhar Institute, researcher of Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Source: CGTN, 2018-10-09
Original Link: https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514f77557a4e7a457a6333566d54/share_p.html