Yearender: China reaches out to LatAm, Africa for new-era cooperation (2)

PARADIGM FOR SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION

The relations China has developed with both Latin America and Africa have become a paradigm for South-South cooperation based on mutual respect and mutual benefits.

First, China, Latin American and African countries see each other as equal partners.

"Each CELAC country, both rich and poor, is equal under the framework of the forum," Xi said at the opening ceremony of the first China-CELAC forum ministerial meeting in January.

China has shown its disposition to establish ties founded on mutual respect, Ecuadoran Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said.

"It has shown that in the way it cooperates with Latin American countries. It's not conditional, it's always (marked) by respect," Patino added.

Xi, at the Johannesburg summit, describing China and Africa as good friends, good partners and good brothers with a common future, said the two sides have always been a community of common destiny, with similar historical experiences having generated a profound friendship between their people.

"In conducting China's relations with Africa, we adhere to the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith and uphold the values of friendship, justice and shared interests," Xi said.

Gerishon Ikiara, a lecturer of international economics at the University of Nairobi, said China has dealt with African countries in a "friendlier manner without discrimination based on a country's political or economic policies or conditions."

Second, China's relations with developing countries are based on mutual benefits.

"In cooperation with developing countries, China will consider their need for self-development ... instead of simply trade and investment or mere one-off sales of resources and energy," Wang said.

"China has a strategic interest in Latin America, a region which produces and exports a large amount of food products and commodities," said Carvalho, the Brazilian expert.

"The great interest is evidenced by the fact that, in two years, both President Xi and Premier Li Keqiang visited Latin America and participated in high-level summits," Carvalho added.

During Li's visit to Latin America in May, he proposed a new mode of production capacity cooperation dubbed "three times three," which means the joint construction of three passages for logistics, electric power and information, giving full play to the interaction among the three entities of private sector, society and the government and using three financing channels including funding, credit loans and insurance.

The "three times three" mode not only meet the needs of Latin America, but also inspires new channels for high-level cooperation between China and other developing countries, especially emerging economies, thus ushering in a new era for South-South cooperation, Wang said.

The measures announced by Xi at the FOCAC Johannesburg summit in early December also gained applause from African countries.

"The measures announced by Xi are badly needed for African countries," said Lesotho's Foreign Minister Tlohang Sekhamane. "It is clear that China wants to be a partner looking for cooperation with Africa and it seeks opportunities of real win-win cooperation instead of looking for a situation of dominance."

Besides, cooperation between China and emerging countries welcome third parties, which is conducive to global development amid the economic slowdown and lingering effect of the financial crisis worldwide.

For instance, part of the high-quality production capacity transferred from China to Latin America comes from enterprises from developed countries, Wang said, citing key spare parts of Brazil's subway cars and ferries as examples. < In that sense, Wang said, those developed countries are also part of the China-LatAm production capacity cooperation as the two sides continue to deepen their cooperative ties.

China-LatAm production capacity cooperation, which is open to third parties, does not only seek win-win results for China and Latin America, but also an all-win scenario for both developing and developed countries, Wang said.

Marcelo Fernandez, a former Ecuadoran deputy foreign minister, told Xinhua recently that he believed China's deepening ties with other developing countries have more to do with South-South cooperation, than a desire to impose hegemony.

"Neocolonialism has been left behind. I don't think the cooperation between China and Africa is neocolonialism. It is simply mutually beneficial cooperation," said Fernandez.

"China-Africa cooperation, as an important and major part of the South-South cooperation, is proven to be successful," said Munene Macharia, an international lecturer with the U.S. International University in Nairobi of Kenya.

Fernando Reyes Matta, a former Chilean ambassador to China, told Xinhua that the first China-CELAC forum ministerial meeting marks "a step in the establishment of a new world order.

The forum is part of the process of building a new global order based on "shared interests," but within "a framework of diversity," Reyes said.

Bruno Ayllon, a researcher at Ecuador's Advanced National Studies Institute, said China-Latin America cooperation represents a "political outlook" that seeks "a much more multilateral world, where the new centers of power succeed in balancing out the hegemony of the Western nations." Enditem

Editor's note:

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