At 8 pm on June 17th, Beijing time, the China-Africa Solidarity Anti-epidemic Summit was held in the form of a video. President Xi Jinping presided over the summit and delivered a keynote speech.

  At this meeting, Africa is not generally valued. One of the organizations that initiated this conference, the African Union, includes 55 member states in Africa.

  Discuss with China the most important event. This friendship is extraordinary.

Why meet with Africa now?

  The time of this meeting is very special.

  From the perspective of total volume, the global epidemic center is still in Europe and America. Africa’s total population accounts for 17% of the world’s population, but confirmed cases account for only 3% of the world’s total.

  But looking at the trend, the African epidemic is not very optimistic. The first 100,000 confirmed cases in Africa took 100 days, and the second 100,000 took only 18 days.

  This fully demonstrates the shortcomings of Africa's epidemic prevention and control, insufficient testing, and backward medical capabilities. The crisis may be hidden under the iceberg.

  Seen in this light, the meeting between China and Africa was timely. Africa's epidemic prevention and control has indeed arrived at a time of reassessment and concerted response.

  You may have noticed that the organizations and members participating in this conference are very wide, including the United Nations, the African Union and WHO, as well as many African heads of state.

  Li Wengang of the African Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences explained the deep meaning to Master Tan:

  Such a configuration once again proves China’s position on multilateral issues on some important issues. On the one hand, it supports the important role of these international agencies represented by the United Nations and the World Health Organization in the development of Africa and some common public issues facing the world. On the other hand, try to increase Africa's participation and Africa's ability to solve problems independently.

  In a word, anti-epidemic in Africa is not just a matter of Africa. The security of Africa determines the progress of global anti-epidemic.

  This is exactly what Xi Jinping clearly mentioned in his speech. Unity and cooperation are the most powerful weapons to fight the epidemic.

  It is not just the current anti-epidemic to unite and cooperate, but the future economic and social development also needs to be on the agenda. In the latest World Economic Outlook report released by the World Bank, the economy of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to shrink by 2.8% this year.

  The outbreak almost shut down Africa. The most important part of the initiative is about the economy.

  Although the world is affected, the African economy has a poor ability to fight. Many African countries have a single economic structure and rely heavily on the export of raw materials and primary products. Nowadays, international logistics trade is stagnant and many countries have no income. This has made many countries with financial difficulties "extremely worse."

  Africa needs increased support from countries around the world. In his speech, Xi Jinping specifically called on the G20 to further extend the debt relief period for relevant countries, including African countries.

  Africa also needs a more stable and open development situation. Mr. Tan noted that in the "Joint Statement of the China-Africa Solidarity and Anti-epidemic Special Summit" issued at the meeting, all parties involved called for joint maintenance of the stability of the global industrial chain and supply chain, as well as the strong support for the construction of the African continent free trade zone.

  At a critical moment, China is anxious for Africa, and is also seeking ways for Africa with the joint participation of all parties.

Why can China help Africa?

  A week ago at the summit, a team of Chinese anti-epidemic medical experts supporting Zimbabwe returned to Hunan.

  The lack of medical resources is a pain for Zimbabwe. In Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, the number of critically ill hospital beds is zero. This is why only two people in the southern African countries were diagnosed before, and the president declared a state of national disaster.

  He Xu, a reporter from the Taiwan Radio Station in Zimbabwe, chatted with Master Tan about this matter and felt very deeply: There is only one country in the world that sends a team of medical experts to Zimbabwe.

  In fact, since the 1960s, China has sent medical teams to Africa, and in the form of a number of African countries in a province, Zimbabwe has counterparts in Hunan.

  Cooperation is only due to long-lasting friendship. This epidemic has allowed China-Africa medical cooperation to meet history. This reminds Master Tan of the several keywords that Xi Jinping mentioned in supporting Africa's fight against epidemics, "hurry up", "advance", "continue", and "accelerate" .

  Cooperation is also expensive in a targeted method. Xi Jinping specifically mentioned in his speech that China will start construction of the headquarters of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention within this year . The deep meaning of this aid measure is not only to help Africa carry out medical and health capacity building, but also to continue China's consistent road map to aid Africa.

  For Africa, the biggest weakness is infrastructure.

  China has always been anxious for Africa. In the past four years, China has accumulated 259 non-investment projects, ranking the fourth among all countries, but created 137,028 jobs, ranking first in the world.

  △In the 9th edition of "Africa Attractiveness Report" released by Ernst & Young, the trends and opportunities of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the African continent from 2014 to 2018

  Most of these projects are building bridges, paving roads, building important buildings, and leaving the foundation for development in Africa. China has built more than 1,200 kilometers of roads for Rwanda, accounting for nearly 70% of Rwanda’s existing roads.

  During the entire construction process, the ratio of Chinese employees to Kenyan employees was 1:10. According to estimates by the Kenyan Ministry of Infrastructure, about 60 kilometers of jobs will be created for each kilometer of railway construction. It has trained 15,000 technicians, 400 engineers and senior technicians for Kenya.

  China has always been thinking about Africa. Most investment projects are related to industrial projects. Even for some energy projects, through investment and project cooperation, China will help local countries build an integrated oil system for upstream oil fields, midstream transmission pipelines, and downstream refining and chemical industries.

  Resource cooperation is not a one-off deal, but leaves room for Africa to develop further.

  The secret of China-Africa solidarity is mutual help and mutual benefit, as well as mutual benefit for win-win cooperation.

Why can China and Africa cooperate closely?

  There have always been two types of cooperation with Africa. One is to take advantage of it and want to control the African system and political power. The other is to treat each other with equality, respect, and mutual benefit.

  Historically, Africa was once a colony of European countries. After World War II, it became the arena used by the United States for political confrontation. In 1954, the United States assisted Egypt in the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile for $1.5 billion, but there was a condition that China could not be recognized.

  Two years later, Egypt established diplomatic relations with China, the United States immediately stopped assistance, and deliberately lowered the price of cotton, which accounts for 75% of Egypt's export revenue. The "new friend" China, who was not rich at the time, immediately bought 15,000 tons of cotton at the original price in Egypt.

  True friends will not be short-sighted, but willing to water each other and treat each other sincerely.

  Hu Chengping, the leader of the expert group for aid to Tianjin and director of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, shared a special experience with Master Tan. While warding a hospital in Zimbabwe, she met an African student she had taught. Now she has become the pillar of the hospital.

  China treats Africa with sincerity. In education, health and other areas of people's livelihood, we are even more silent.

  True friends will not be condescending, but will support each other and develop together.

  In the early days of reform and opening up, China’s per capita income was actually less than a third of sub-Saharan Africa, but after just 40 years, China became the world’s second-largest economy, with a per capita income exceeding US$10,000.

  Instead of forgetting friends, China shares its experience.

  On the same day that the China-Africa Summit was held, Master Tan saw Wang Yong, deputy dean of the School of New Structural Economics of Peking University, send a circle of friends to congratulate the master's student Xilia from Liberia for successfully passing the defense.

  The master student comes from the South-South Cooperation and Development College, which mostly helps Africa train some high-level management talents. Wang Yong shared his feelings with Lord Tan. The reason why Africa is interested in China is because the starting point is similar, and they also have common development expectations and goals.

  Because of the common anti-colonial historical memory, both China and Africa know how to respect each other’s core interests.

  China has never thought about transforming Africa, but what it can develop together. In the last initiative of the speech, I made it very clear that we support each other on issues involving each other's core interests and jointly safeguard the fundamental interests of China, Africa and developing countries.

  Lord Tan remembered that when Xi Jinping visited Africa in 2013, he put forward a statement on China- Africa relations at the Nyerere Conference Center. China and Africa have always been a community of destiny .

  The word "never" is very precise. Good brothers of China and Africa, in the past, now and in the future. (Yu Yuan Tan Tian)