Ｃｈｉｎａ’ｓ Ｓｉｎｃｅｒｅ Ａｉｄ ｔｏ Ａｆｒｉｃａ

Since its founding， the People’s Republic of China has rendered African countries a great amount of aid with no strings attached. Such aid with different contents adapting to the development of the times at different historical stages has been highly praised by the governments and people of African countries and played an important role in helping forge and develop all-weather friendship， sincere cooperative partnership and fraternity between China and Africa.

On his tour of ten African countries at the end of 1963 and the beginning of 1964， Premier Zhou Enlai put forward eight principles underlying China’s economic and technological aid to foreign countries， stressing that in providing aid to other countries， the Chinese Government strictly respects the sovereignty of the recipient countries and never attaches any conditions. Up till now these principles are still the guiding principles for China’s aid to African countries.

In the 1950s and 1960s， China gave economic aid mainly in the forms of constructing projects， providing material supplies and dispatching experts. Since 1978， China began to implement the policy of reform and opening up， and the African countries started economic restructuring， in the light of the new changes that took place in both China and Africa， China began to vary its ways in providing aid to Africa with richer contents by putting forth different kinds of projects and achieved more notable results. Gratuitous aid， interest-free loan， loan with discount interest， technical assistance， construction projects， building factories， dispatching experts and workers， personnel and technical training， etc. have gradually become the usual ways of aid and cooperation. The provider of aid and execution of aid programme are gradually separated. The enterprises with strength and good reputation have played an important part in carrying out the programmes. Both China and Africa pay more attention to the economic results of aid and its role in strengthening bilateral economic and trade relations， thus further pushing realization of the overall targets and perfection and consolidation of the guarantee mechanism of aid. What is most striking is that since the 1990s China has enriched the contents of its aid and made greater efforts to aid Africa， focusing on giving instruction in technical management， providing loans on favourable terms， investing in the construction of trade promotion centres， exempting and reducing debts owed by poor countries， training economic and trade officials， providing emergency disaster relief， etc..

Compared with the international aid， China’s aid to Africa is featured with selflessness and sincerity， never seeking any selfish interests， never imposing any pressure on African countries with the excuse of giving aid， and never interfering in their internal affairs. Some Western countries provide aid to Africa for the purpose of propagating their own political values， and even attempt to dominate the internal and external affairs of the recipient country. Moreover， in the mode of operation， China’s aid to Africa is mainly provided in nonmonetary forms; while Western countries mainly use money. Practice has proved that China’s aid in the forms of building factories， providing material supplies and personnel training meets the urgent needs of the recipient countries and promotes bilateral economic and trade relations. Another reason of the good results is that the application formalities are relatively simple which have received general favourable comment from the African recipient countries.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of starting diplomatic relations between China and African countries. Over the past half a century， China’s aid to Africa has played an important role in promoting economic development， improving people’s livelihood and raising the level of education， medical care and health of the recipient countries. Many China-aid projects such as the Tanzania-Zambia Railway and the Friendship Port in Mauritania have become important economic hub of these countries. China’s aid to Africa has not only brought about closer bilateral economic and trade ties， but also enhanced political mutual trust and coordinated political standing and diplomatic actions. Chinafrustrated the anti-China proposal submitted by the West to the UN Conference on Human Rights 11 times， crushed the Taiwan authorities’ scheme of “returning to the United Nations” at the UN General Assembly13 times and succeeded in its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games and the 2010 World Expo. African countries have given their generous help to China in all these endeavours.

The author is assistant research fellow with the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce.