LI YUANCHAO’S VISIT TO ZAMBIA (EDITORIAL COMMENT FOR MONDAY 23RD JUNE 2014) Chinese Vice-President Li Yuanchao says China will continue helping African countries as much as it can, although it also faces the challenges of a developing country with low income per capita ratios. “One of reasons for the growing pains is that our African friends have over-estimated China’s capacities and sometimes have too much high expectations from us,” says Vice-President Li Yuanchao. “As a matter of fact, China is still a developing country. Although we have seen rapid development in recent years, the per capita GDP in China is still very low. Of course, China is developing faster than some developing countries, so we think we have the responsibility and we should help our African friends. We would like, to the best of our ability, to help African countries to realise development.” One cannot help but recognise and respect the honesty and humility of the leadership of China. This is the way Chinese leaders have always been since the 1949 Revolution under the leadership of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. In a talk with African friends on August 8, 1963, Mao said, “The people who have triumphed in their own revolution should help those still struggling for liberation. This is our internationalist duty.” And addressing the commemoration of Dr Sun Yat-sen in November 1956, Mao said: “But we must be modest... We should always be modest. In our international relations, we Chinese people should get rid of great-power chauvinism resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely.” This was a repeat of a point he had made in his address to the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China the previous month: “We must never adopt an arrogant attitude of great-power chauvinism and become conceited because of the victory of our revolution and certain achievements in our construction. Every nation, big or small, has its strong and weak points.” Listening to Vice-President Li Yuanchao, it is clear that the Chinese leadership has kept these principles and their internationalist spirit, which now seems to be a permanent part of their political culture. It is this modesty, this humility, respect and love for others that makes China more appreciated in our poor world. Those from arrogant backgrounds can’t understand very well the reasons for China’s broad relations with our poor world, its prestige among poor countries. But the African peoples, who have been so humiliated by colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid and racism, have been able to appraise in all its dimensions the humble, noble, generous gesture, the historical dimension of the Chinese people and their leaders, who were capable not only of overcoming the great challenges of looking after a population of about 1.4 billion people spread over a territory of almost 9.6 million square kilometres, but also helping the Africans in their struggles and challenges to free and develop themselves. What China has shared with Africa has not been as a result of them having excess wealth. They have done so out of sacrificing some of the needs of their people. Sometimes they have done things in Africa that they could not do for some of their own people. This is not a small thing; it does constitute a great example in a world plagued by egoism. Vice-President Li Yuanchao says they have the responsibility to help their African friends, to the best of their abilities, realise development. It seems a firm internationalist consciousness is something China cannot do without. Clearly, the principle of international solidarity must be defended for its own sake. This is a principle we raised when some of our fellow citizens were criticising President Michael Sata for donating some fuel to Malawi, whose stocks had completely dried up and some maize to Zimbabweans who had been hit by drought. The issue is: how much have we done for others, compared to what others have done for us in so many fields? How much is this economic cooperation being given to us worth? Of course, this is not the best argument because it is not an argument for an internationalist. It may be logical, dialectical, but it isn’t in the spirit of international solidarity. The argument for internationalists goes like this: help others even if nobody helps you. It is simply a moral duty, a matter of principle, of conscience, to contribute to humanity even if humanity has done nothing for us. That’s what internationalism means. Probably the best explanation of international solidarity, in our view, was given by Samora Machel, the leader of FRELIMO and the first president of the Republic of Mozambique: “International solidarity is not an act of charity: it is an act of unity between allies fighting on different terrains toward the same objective. The foremost of these objectives is to aid the development of humanity to the highest level possible.” And Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban Revolution, summed it up this way: “By fulfilling a duty [in Angola], we are not doing a favour but simply fulfilling a duty. We have always thought that if a man cannot sacrifice himself for others, he is incapable of sacrificing himself for anything; a people that cannot sacrifice itself for other peoples is incapable of sacrificing itself for its own sake; a people that is not willing to fight for the freedom of others will never be ready to fight for its own freedom.” But in any human interaction, no matter how well intended or designed it may be, there is bound to be some challenges, some friction. And our relations with the Chinese people are not exempt from that. As Chinese private investment starts to increase, new challenges are bound to arise in its management. We have already seen a bit of this. And Vice-President Li Yuanchao was very honest in his appraisal of the last few years in terms of such challenges, friction. But as Lenin once put it, “little annoyances should not stand in the way of big pleasure”. As more and more private Chinese investment comes in, if we don’t improve our systems for managing it, we will have problems. China realises that most African countries are exercising market economy and the private businesses are the most active. As a result of this, it is encouraging its private businesses to come to Africa for investment. And as Vice-President Li Yuanchao has correctly observed, this process “will need mutual understanding and mutual adaptation so that our cooperation will become mature, friendly, reciprocal and win-win”. The measure we will get out of this will be the measure we ourselves put in. Contrary to the propaganda that is being spread by others to try and make Africa fear dealing with China, Africa stands a better chance with China than it did with the others before. But all depends on what Africa will put in and how well it has learnt its lessons from past dealings.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 12:17:00 +0000
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