China, Africa work to build security community

China has always worked to develop relations with Africa, with a commitment to upholding the greater good in the pursuit of shared interests and following the principles of sincerity, pragmatism, affinity and good faith, said Chinese President Xi Jinping in a congratulatory letter to the second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum on July 25.

The second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum is held via video link, July 25. Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe attended the meeting. (Photo/Li Xiaowei)

Xi noted that the country is ready to work with its African friends to adhere to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security.

China will work with Africa to safeguard the international system with the United Nations at its core, uphold international fairness and justice, promote the implementation of the Global Security Initiative, and build a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, Xi said.

Xi's congratulatory letter fully indicated the high attention attached by China on China-Africa peace and security cooperation. It has charted the course for the two sides to enhance cooperation and solidarity and achieve common security.

Africa has been facing a number of uncertainties in its security situation, as well as untraditional security threats such as terrorism, COVID-19, climate change and food security. Against such a background, to enhance China-Africa peace and security cooperation is of more practical significance.

The second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum was attended by 50 ministerial-level officials and high-level representatives from the African Union (AU) and African countries.

They said China is a reliable friend, partner and brother of Africa and expressed their thanks to China for assisting and supporting Africa's peace and security. They are ready to enhance solidarity and cooperation with China, and make positive contributions to build a China-Africa community with a shared future.

The second China-Africa Peace and Security Forum is held via video link, July 25. Photo shows Chinese State Councilor and Defense Minister Wei Fenghe delivering a keynote speech at the meeting. (Photo/Li Xiaowei)

Realizing enduring peace and universal security is a common aspiration of the Chinese and African peoples. Peace and security cooperation is an important part of China-Africa cooperation.

At the 2015 Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the 2018 Beijing Summit of the FOCAC, and the eighth FOCAC ministerial conference held the last year, President Xi personally planned and promoted China-Africa peace and security cooperation.

He raised a series of important initiatives on peace and security and proposed to set up the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum to build a platform for the two sides to enhance communication in the specific field. The peace and security cooperation carried out by China and Africa under the framework of the FOCAC is an important measure of them to build a China-Africa community with a shared future.

Different from other major countries outside Africa, China, when participating in Africa's peace and security affairs, fully respects the wills of regional countries, never interferes in their domestic affairs and follows the basic norms governing international relations.

China supports African countries and the African Union to play a leading role in Africa's peace and security affairs, supports Africa to enhance its independent capability to maintain peace and stability and fight terrorism, supports African countries and regional organizations including the African Union to implement the "Silencing the Guns” initiative, and supports the UN to provide capital assistance for the African Union's independent peacekeeping actions.

China is actively joining Africa's efforts to advance peace and security capacity building. The recently-concluded First China-Horn of Africa Peace, Good Governance and Development Conference marked an important step of China and Africa to implement the Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa, and provided important assistance for regional countries to independently solve regional peace and security issues.

To implement the China-Africa peace and security program proposed at the eighth FOCAC ministerial conference, China will launch 10 peace and security projects for Africa and keep providing military aid for the African Union. China supports African countries to independently safeguard regional peace and fight terrorism, and will launch China-Africa joint drills, training and light weapon management for peacekeeping.

China is committed to helping Africa improve its independent development capability. The country insists that Africa should put equal emphasis on development and security so as to achieve sustained security and eliminate hotbeds of all types of insecure factors.

An engineer detachment of the 9th Chinese peacekeeping contingent to Mali recently passed an equipment inspection held by the UN. The UN inspection team came to a unanimous conclusion that the main equipment and self-sustaining equipment of the detachment all fit the UN standards and could fully satisfy the requirements for combat and peacekeeping tasks. (Photo from the official page of People's Liberation Army Daily)

China's active role in development, peacekeeping and mediating hotspot African issues is widely commended. "China doesn't interfere in African countries' domestic affairs, and our cooperation is based on equality and mutual benefit," said John Mulimba, Uganda's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional Cooperation.

China and Africa have always been sharing a same future. They should offer each other mutual assistance in security to build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.

As the world is going through profound changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century and entering a period of new turbulence and transformation, the two sides should uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship, put in practice the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative, and march toward the aspiration of building a security community, so as to make bigger contributions to tackling global security deficits and promoting world peace and development.