Opening a New Chapter with Renewed Friendship and Jointly Building a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future in the New Era
传承友谊，谱写新篇，携手构建新时代高水平中非命运共同体
By Wang Qing, Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone
驻塞拉利昂大使王擎
17 January 2023
2023年1月17日
From January 9 to 16, 2023, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang visited Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, Egypt, the African Union Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters upon invitation. This is his first overseas trip as the Chinese Foreign Minister. It is also the 33rd consecutive year that the Chinese Foreign Minister visits Africa on the first overseas trip of the new year.
1月9日至16日，中国外交部长秦刚应邀访问了埃塞俄比亚、加蓬、安哥拉、贝宁、埃及和非盟总部、阿盟总部。这是他担任中国外长后首次出访，也使中国外长新年首访非洲成为连续坚持33年的传统。
During the visit, Foreign Minister Qin Gang made a four-point proposal on the development of China-Africa Relations: First, intensify in-person interactions and connectivity of ideas between China and Africa. Second, further deepen friendly relations between China and the AU. Third, do more to upgrade and elevate China-Africa cooperation. Fourth, stand firm in defending the unity and cooperation of developing countries. Foreign Minister Qin Gang also reiterated that strengthening solidarity and cooperation with African countries will always be a diplomatic priority for China. No matter how the international environment changes, China and Africa will always be a community with a shared future.
访问期间，秦刚外长就中非关系发展提出四点建议：一是加快推进中非实体交往和理念相通。二是不断深化中非盟友好关系。三是大力推动中非合作提质升级。四是坚定捍卫发展中国家团结合作。秦刚外长还强调，加强同非洲国家的团结合作，始终是中国外交的优先方向，无论国际风云如何变幻，中非双方永远是休戚与共的命运共同体。
This visit clearly stated that carrying forward and advancing the China-Africa friendship has been a noble tradition and a defining feature of China’s diplomacy. Even mountains and seas cannot distance people with common aspirations. China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa close together. Since the 1950s and the 1960s, the first generation of leaders of China including Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai joined hands with their African counterparts to usher in a new era of China-Africa friendship. From then on, the Chinese and African people have supported and cooperated with each other and forged a brotherly bond sharing weal and woe. The Chinese people will not forget that it was the African brothers who “carried” the New China into the United Nations. African people will also never forget that China extended a helping hand to support Africa’s development in its own very difficult times. The Chinese and African people share good feelings with each other, which have become the unbreakable foundation of China-Africa friendship.
此访明确宣示了传承和弘扬中非友谊始终是中国外交的光荣传统和鲜明底色。志合者，不以山海为远。中国是最大的发展中国家，非洲是发展中国家最集中的大陆，相似的历史遭遇、共同的发展任务，将双方紧密联系在一起。上世纪五六十年代，毛泽东、周恩来等新中国第一代领导人和非洲老一辈政治家共同开启了中非关系新纪元。从那时起，中非人民相互支持、真诚合作，结下了同呼吸、共命运、心连心的兄弟情谊。中国人民不会忘记，是非洲兄弟把新中国抬进了联合国；非洲人民同样不会忘记，中国在自身十分困难的时候伸出援手，支持非洲发展。中非人民彼此满怀美好情感，温暖着中非双方，成为中非友好牢不可破的根基，也是中非命运共同体具有强大生命力的根源所在。
This visit vividly demonstrated China’s firm will and practical actions to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future. Entering the new era, President Xi Jinping put forward the principles of China’s Africa policy – sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests, and advocated building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future, which has been unanimously endorsed by African leaders and has pointed out the way forward and provided a fundamental guideline for China-Africa cooperation in the new era. Under the joint leadership and impetus of the Chinese and African leaders, China-Africa cooperation has continued to make new progress and reached unprecedented heights. The “Ten Major Plans”, “Eight Major Initiatives” and “Nine Programs” proposed on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) are progressing smoothly. China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years, and the trade volume between China and Africa is expected to exceed $260 billion by 2022. During his visit to Africa, Foreign Minister Qin Gang attended the completion ceremony of the headquarter of the African Center for Disease Control, adding a new landmark project to China-Africa cooperation. At present, 52 African countries and the African Union Commission have signed Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation Documents with China, and cooperation projects on roads, electricity, communications and ports have spread across Africa, enhancing Africa’s capacity for autonomous and sustainable development. China will continue to respect the will of the African people, and bring tangible benefit to the African people under the actual situation to achieve better common development.
此访生动展现了中国致力于构建高水平中非命运共同体的坚定意志和实际行动。进入新时代，习近平主席提出真实亲诚对非政策理念和正确义利观，倡议构建更加紧密的中非命运共同体，得到非方领导人一致赞同，为新时代对非合作指明了前进方向、提供了根本遵循。在中非领导人共同引领和推动下，中非合作不断取得新进展，达到前所未有的新高度。中非合作论坛“十大合作计划”、“八大行动”、“九项工程”等进展顺利。中国连续13年成为非洲第一大贸易伙伴国，2022年中非贸易额预计突破2600亿美元。此次秦刚外长访非时出席非洲疾控中心总部竣工仪式，为中非合作增添了新的标志性项目。目前，52个非洲国家和非盟委员会同中方签署“一带一路”合作文件，公路、电力、通讯、港口等合作项目遍布非洲，增强了非洲的自主和可持续发展能力。中方将继续尊重非洲人民意愿，立足非洲实际情况，通过中非合作给非洲人民带来实实在在的利益，实现更好的共同发展。
China and Sierra Leone are time-bonded friends. During the past 52 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China-Sierra Leone relations have developed smoothly and become a model of China-Africa friendship and cooperation. In recent years, under the strategic leadership of the two Heads of State, political trust between China and Sierra Leone has continued to grow, practical cooperation has been steadily promoted, international collaboration has become closer, and solidarity in the fight against COVID-19 has been effective, giving new energy to the traditional friendship between the two countries. Although I have only been in office for a short time, I can already feel the fruitfulness of the practical cooperation between the two countries. On the second day after I presented my credentials, I attended the handover ceremony of the China-aided Foreign Service Academy, where President Bio said “thank you” in Chinese, drawing a warm response. I have visited Youyi Building a number of times. It is one of the landmarks of China-Sierra Leone friendship. Chinese Military Medical Expert Group, China CDC Expert Team and Chinese Medical Team in Sierra Leone fought with the Sierra Leonean people against Ebola and COVID-19, vividly illustrating the China-Africa friendship of mutual help and common destiny. The Chinese language courses offered by the Confucius Institute at the University of Sierra Leone are attracting more and more people and have become a bridge between the two countries to strengthen people-to-people exchange.
中国和塞拉利昂有着深厚的传统友谊，建交52年来，中塞关系顺利发展，已成为中非友好合作的典范。近年来在两国元首的战略引领下，中塞政治互信持续增强，务实合作稳步推进，国际协作更加紧密，团结抗疫成效显著，为两国传统友谊不断注入新的动力。我虽到任时间不长，但已深切感受到两国务实合作结出的累累硕果。我到任第二天即出席中国援塞外交培训学院大楼交接仪式，比奥总统用中文说“谢谢”在现场引起热烈反响。我多次前往中塞友谊大厦拜会塞政府官员，该大厦就是中塞友好的标志性项目之一。中国援塞医疗队、疾控中心专家组、军事医学专家组等三支医卫队伍与塞人民并肩抗击埃博拉、新冠肺炎疫情，生动诠释了守望相助、命运与共的中非情义。塞大利昂大学孔子学院开设的汉语课程受到越来越多人的关注，成为两国加强民意相通的一道桥梁。
China-Sierra Leone relations are facing new opportunities for development in the new era. As the new Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone, I will work with my colleagues and the Sierra Leonean friends to implement the important consensus reached by the two Heads of State to enhance the relations between our two countries, deepen political mutual trust, expand mutually beneficial cooperation, promote the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership to a new level, and jointly build the high-level China-Africa community with a shared future in the New Era.
中塞关系在新时期面临着新的发展机遇。作为新任驻塞大使，我将与我的同事以及塞拉利昂各界人士共同努力，认真落实两国元首就两国关系发展达成的重要共识，深化政治互信、扩大互利合作，推动中塞全面战略合作伙伴关系再上新台阶，共同为新时代高水平中非命运共同体添砖加瓦。