Chinese NGOs reach out to African countries (2)

Li Liqing, board member of the Chinese-African People's Friendship Association, said that the rapid economic development of China is one of the major reasons pushing these organizations into Africa.

For Red Cross China, the decision to go abroad came in 2011, when China officially overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy.

According to Zhang, membership countries of the International Committee of the Red Cross are broadly divided into two categories. Donors such as countries in northern Europe are partnership national societies, while receivers, such as Nepal and China, are operational national societies.

"When China became the second-largest economy in the world, we knew that we could not be a receiver forever. We needed to step forward and offer our help to other countries," she said.

Strong government support is another major driver. President Xi Jinping has in his keynote address to the 2nd China-Africa People's Forum indicated that a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership is being promoted, in which cultural and people-to-people exchanges are the key.

Li from the friendship association said there is a growing emphasis from the Chinese government on people-to-people exchanges being the foundation for strong China-Africa ties.

"China-Africa cooperation is mainly on the government-to-government level. To further develop strong ties with Africa, it is important to make more African people know and understand China," Li said.

You Jianhua, secretary-general of China NGO Network for International Exchanges and the organizer of the People's Forum, said unlike many other countries, the relationship between the Chinese government and NGOs is friendly.

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