Give Full Play to the Role of Think Tanks, and Promote Friendly China-Africa Cooperation

Cai Fang

Vice President, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

The world today is undergoing major development, major changes, and major adjustments. Multi-polarization, economic globalization, social information reform and cultural diversification have been deepening. Peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit have become the common aspirations of human society. Building a community of a shared future for mankind has become an aspiration of people of all countries. At the same time, major countries are in fierce competition, regional conflicts occur constantly, terrorism is intractable, economic imbalances are severe, climate change is pronounced, and unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise once again: humanity faces many challenges. China is the world’s largest developing country, as well as a builder of, contributor to and defender of the cause of human peace and development. In October 2017, the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China was successfully convened, launching China into a great new season in her journey of development. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese people are working hard to realize the “two centenary goals” and the “Chinese dream” of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Africa is the continent with the most developing countries, and one of the important forces for safeguarding world peace and promoting global development. In recent years, Africa has made encouraging progress on the road of independent and sustainable development and united self-improvement. Once a “continent without hope” in the eyes of Westerners, Africa has become a “continent of hope” and a “running lion”. African countries are actively exploring development paths suited to their national conditions, and the African people are striving to achieve Agenda 2063 and the “African Dream” of peace and prosperity.

The friendship between China and Africa has a long history. China and Africa have always been a community of a shared future. China attaches great importance to the development of China-Africa relations. Africa was among the destinations of President Xi Jinping’s first presidential visit in March 2013. In July 2018, after he was re-elected as president, his first foreign visit also included a trip to African countries. In the past five years, President Xi Jinping has travelled to the African continent four times, visiting eight different countries, including Tanzania, South Africa and Senegal. He has shown the world that China cherishes the long-standing friendship between China and Africa and attaches great importance to Africa and to China-Africa relations. 2018 is a “major year” in China-Africa relations. Following President Xi Jinping’s visit to Africa, the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in September 2018. This will be the third summit in the history of FOCAC. Chinese people and African people are full of enthusiasm for this summit, and the international community is paying close attention to it. The summit will further deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Africa and promote the construction of a closer Chinese-African community of a shared future. It will be another milestone in the history of China-Africa relations.

With the vigorous development of China-Africa cooperation, the international community has been paying increasing attention to China-Africa relations. In response to growing concerns about China’s growing influence in Africa, Western countries have occasionally put forward ridiculous arguments that defame and discredit China-Africa relations, using terms such as “new colonialism” “resource plundering” and “debt trap”, bringing a certain degree of interference to China-Africa relations. In this context, it is increasingly urgent and important for the Chinese academic community to strengthen research on Africa and on China-Africa relations, to make progress in a timely fashion, to tell the true stories of China in Africa, to demonstrate the fruitful results of pragmatic China-Africa cooperation, to objectively present China-Africa relations, and to present a Chinese voice to the world.

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in accordance with the requirements of General Secretary Xi Jinping, strives to build a Marxist theoretical platform, to play the role of a think tank serving the Party and the state in terms of decision making, to contribute to the building of the discipline system, the academic system, and the discourse system of philosophy and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, as well as to continuously enhance the international influence of China’s philosophy and social sciences research. The Institute of West-Asian and African Studies (IWAAS) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) is a region-specific research institution established according to the instructions of Chairman Mao Zedong. It has long been committed to the research of African issues and China-Africa relations, paying attention to both basic and applied research. With a large number of published works by its fellows, the influence of IWAAS is expanding, both at home and abroad.

In order to serve the national diplomatic situation and cooperate with the forthcoming Beijing summit of FOCAC, IWAAS and the Bureau of International Cooperation of CASS, have jointly organized the preparation of the “China-Africa Friendly Cooperation in the New Era Think Tank Reports”. This is a series of think tank reports, including one keynote report and eight other reports. The keynote report, A New Era in China-Africa Friendly Cooperation: New Achievements, New Opportunities, New Vision sums up the great achievements made by China and Africa through joint efforts in the arenas of politics, economy, trade, humanities, peace and security since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. It analyzes the new opportunities that the New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics brings for the development of Africa, and for China-Africa cooperation. It also looks ahead to the new vision and key areas of cooperation between China and Africa in the future. The other reports are: China-Africa Direct Investment and Cooperation, The Belt and Road Initiative and China-Africa Production Capacity Cooperation, China-Africa Poverty Reduction Cooperation and Experience Sharing, China-Africa People-to-People and Cultural Exchanges and Cooperation, China-Africa Cooperation in the Peace and Security Issue, Friendly Cooperation between China and Kenya, Social Responsibility Report of Chinese Enterprises in Africa, and Zheng He’s Voyages to Africa and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. From different perspectives, these reports elaborate on the achievements made and challenges faced in China-Africa cooperation, and provide suggestions for future development and cooperation. Striving to objectively and accurately reflect the current situation of China-Africa cooperation, the reports are interrelated and mutually integrated. They enhance the general understanding of China-Africa relations and provide academic analyses as well as the think tank’s suggestions for the development of China-Africa relations in the new era. Moreover, English versions of the reports are being published at the same time as the Chinese originals, for African countries and the international community. This demonstrates to the world that friendly China-Africa cooperation fully conforms to the fundamental interests of the 2.6 billion people of both sides, and to world peace, stability, development and prosperity.

These think-tank reports were prepared in only five months, from planning, organizing and writing to printing and publishing. The schedule was tight and the task was weighty. It is inevitable that there exist shortcomings and omissions. For example, Friendly Cooperation between China and Kenya is the only country-level analysis of cooperation among the reports. At least 5 to 10 more reports on country-level cooperation would make the entire series of reports more representative and comprehensive. I hope that in the future there will be opportunities to make up for this shortcoming and produce more reports on China-Africa cooperation. I believe that with the joint efforts of scholars, China’s African studies and China-Africa relations studies will continue to achieve new heights, so as to better serve the national strategy and contribute to the comprehensive development of friendly China-Africa cooperation in the new era.