September 2, 2024

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing from Wednesday to Friday. Leaders from China and over 50 African members, as well as representatives from African regional organizations and international organizations, will once again gather in Beijing. This is the fourth time the FOCAC is being held in a form of a summit, and it is also the largest diplomatic event hosted by China in recent years, with the highest attendance of foreign leaders. Over the past few days, African leaders have been arriving in Beijing. Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday started holding bilateral events with foreign leaders who will attend the 2024 Summit. This also marks the official beginning of the "2024 Summit of the FOCAC time." 

The theme of this year's summit is "Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future," highlighting the exploration of the path to modernization as a key focus of the summit. China and Africa share a natural advantage in cooperation, stemming from mutual empathy. China is the largest developing country, while Africa has the highest concentration of developing countries. Both have similar historical memories of long-term poverty, weakness, and suffering from aggression, and both aspire to achieve independence, self-determination and justice. Moreover, they both hope to realize modernization and improve the living standards of their people. China is well aware of the challenges and difficulties that African countries face in their development. When it comes to China-Africa cooperation, many Africans share the sentiment that China responds urgently to Africa's needs and addresses Africa's difficulties.

In the new era, President Xi proposed the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, which have received broad support from African countries. The historical wheel of the community with a shared future between China and Africa has accelerated. China-Africa cooperation, which initially focused on economy, trade, poverty reduction, and development, has gradually expanded into practical cooperation in various areas such as governance, cultural exchanges, peace and security and public health, achieving leapfrog development. In 2013, President Xi visited Africa, his first official overseas visit after assuming the office of president, emphasizing that China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future. In 2018, President Xi delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the FOCAC, highlighting the joint efforts to build "an even closer China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era." The practical significance of FOCAC has continued to grow and evolve, demonstrating its comprehensiveness and strategic nature, making it a crucial platform for collective consultation and coordinated action between China and Africa, and a hallmark of international cooperation with Africa.

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https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202409/1319113.shtml