"China, a poor and weak country 60 years ago, has become a modern state which, in my opinion, is the best model of development for Africa," Moussa Bolly told Xinhua on Wednesday in an interview.

Bolly, a journalist in charge of communication in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, said that after launching its open door policy and reforms 30 years ago, China has accelerated its development so that it can be counted among the prosperous nations.

Bolly made the comments ahead of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, which falls on Oct. 1.

He said that "the most important thing to remember is that the Chinese people managed to get the best route for development in their culture, history and the socio-economic reality."

"This country feeds more than 1.3 billion people in peace and stability. China feeds 22 percent of the world population with just 7 percent of arable land," he said. "This is why it is supposed to be a model for African countries," he added.

"China has depended on herself to develop, just from her cultural values and the aspirations of her valiant people. Chinese leaders had the clear-sightedness to diagnose the real needs of the country. This allowed them to take appropriate measures. They understood that their nation could not get out there and mimic imported models," he added.

Bolly saw China's essential values as discipline, hard work, innovation and patriotism.

"The West has discovered a China which is ambitious. Systematically, they have started putting before her obstacles by raising questions of democracy, human rights....But conscious that they have no reason to dismantle a model which has made their people happy, the Chinese leaders have kept the course. And the recent financial crisis has shown the defects of capitalism which resulted in a fortune for China," he said.

"Africa needs to follow the example of China. But the problem is that the majority of African decision makers follow the West. We have imitated our former colonial masters and no wonder we continue to wallow in poverty. As long as Africa continues to follow the West, we are going nowhere," Bolly pointed out.

"And this is why some leaders like Modibo Keita, Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba Hamani Diori and others took the decision to completely dismantle the colonial yoke. A political and economic choice was intolerable before the eyes of the colonialists who, in connivance with the enemies of the African people, forced them out through military coup d'etats," he said.

"And since then, Africa has been looking for the best route while imitating the western powers. Centralized democracy, multi-party democracy, liberalism and primitive privatisation," said the journalist.

"The best example of this imitation is the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed on Africa at the end of the 1980s until the 1990s. This led to the privatisation of the Health and Education sectors," he told Xinhua, complaining that "the West, through the World Bank and IMF forced African countries to take the contrary route."

"Curiously, it is these same powers who are asking the state to bail out their economies at this time of financial crisis. For all intents and purpose, China is the best model for Africa because she is a sincere friend who does not impose anything on her partners," he said.

China's help "is in response to the needs requested by African leaders. And that is what we call partnership," Bolly added.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2009)