On the extraordinary session of China-Africa cooperation under covid-19, the Chinese president Xi Jinping addressed a very comprehensive and concise speech on China-Africa Cooperation and solidarity to the world community under the witness eyes of several African head of States and governments, and other world personalities such as its Excellency Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, its Excellency António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, its Excellency Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
My first sentiment as African scholar after listening the full speech was a sentiment of solidarity and security from our Chinese brothers. “A friend in need is a friend indeed” as goes the saying; not only China has not forgotten what Africa did to support her at the very beginning of the covid-19 in Wuhan, but also China is now reciprocating by standing firmly to support Africa.
Very respectfully, president Xi highlighted some important point that need not to be neglected: The fight against covid-19 is not over yet, for, resurgence is still possible even for country like China which has successfully brought the epidemic under control. This is worth noticing as many countries of the world for economic or political reasons, are deconfining and opening up to free movement of people and goods. In these challenging times, the spirit of solidarity, togetherness, mutual trust and cooperation should prevail. this seems for me to be the core message of President Xi. This was followed by the 4 main pledges among other made by the Chinese leader: ” (1) The construction of the Africa CDC headquarters, (2) African countries being among the first beneficial of China’s made vaccine against covid-19 once ready, (3) Great financial support and debt canceling under the framework of Belt and Road initiative for African countries hardly hit by the virus, (4) Uphold the UN-centered global governance system and support WHO in making greater contribution to the global COVID-19 response, oppose politicization and stigmatization of COVID-19, oppose racial discrimination and ideological bias.” The fulfillment of these pledges will be the focus of attention of African people and the world community in the days to come. As China is taking greater responsibilities, the world is watching and waiting for actions to speak louder than words.
My country Cameroon is among the 10 top African countries hardly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the words of President Xi are of great relieve for the people of Cameroon still under the stress of this pandemic. In fact Cameroon got his first case of COVID-19 on 24th February 2020, a French citizen from France who visited the country, he was later cured and discharged from Cameroonian hospital. However, as the virus continued spreading in many cities and regions of the country, things got worse and the country’s authorities was forced to take drastic measures such as closing the country’s borders, the schools and other public services, imposing facial masks in public area etc. to slowdown the pandemic’s propagation. But the virus is still spreading and the lack of medical facilities against COVID-19 worries our people. In this regard, China’s pledges if fulfilled on time will definitely be of greater help. Today，as the most affected African country (South Africa) count nearly 80 000 confirmed cases with around 1600 deaths, Cameroon is ranked the 7th most affected African country with around 10 000 confirmed cases with less than 300 deaths.
The China-Africa friendship and cooperation have been developing rapidly in the past two decades, and has become strong enough today to withstand the multiple challenges such as COVID-19, unilateralism and protectionism of certain selfish countries as well as racism and discrimination against the people of color around the world. With a firm and determined political will of Chinese and African leadership, China-Africa friendship and cooperation will be propel at new highs in the decades to come. African people through their firm leadership seem to be engaged are and eager to join hands with Chinese people and together build a prosperous community of shared future. This is a positive move toward building the world peace and harmonious society that we all aspire for.
Author: TALING T. RODRIGUE from Cameroon，PhD, Research Fellow, Vice Director of the Center for Francophones Studies, Secretary General of Center for African Film & TV, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University. Email: rodriguetaling@outlook.com
