CGTN Highlights 70 Years Of China-Africa Relations, Global South Cooperation

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (Bernama) -- China Global Television Network (CGTN) has published an article highlighting Africa's priority role in China's overall foreign policy, while tracing how the China-Africa partnership has been forged and strengthened over decades, marking the 70th anniversary of China-Africa relations.

The article also explores how deepening cooperation in recent years has helped enhance the voice and representation of the Global South and contributed to advancing a more balanced and democratic international order.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi exchanged congratulatory messages to mark the 70th anniversary of China-Egypt ties, the occasion also underscored seven decades of China-Africa relations.

Xi noted that over the past 70 years, China-Egypt relations have become a model of amity, solidarity and cooperation among developing countries, as well as a benchmark for cooperation between China and Arab states and between China and Africa.

Today, China-Africa relations have evolved from a friendship forged in shared struggles into a dynamic partnership dedicated to development, modernisation and the rise of the Global South, according to CGTN in a statement.

Earlier this year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Africa, continuing a 36-year tradition of making the continent the destination of China's foreign minister's first overseas trip each year, highlighting the importance of China-Africa relations.

Over the past two decades, China-Africa cooperation has expanded rapidly with the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2000, providing an institutional framework for cooperation. In 2015, the two sides elevated their ties with the launch of "Ten Cooperation Plans", setting a strong foundation for rapid modernisation across the African continent.

At the 2024 FOCAC summit, China and Africa further upgraded their relationship to an all-weather community with a shared future for the new era. China also expanded duty-free access from 33 African countries to all 53 African countries with diplomatic ties by 2025.

While political trust forms the foundation of China-Africa relations, economic cooperation remains the key stabiliser and growth engine of the partnership, alongside the Belt and Road Initiative, which has reshaped connectivity across the continent through major infrastructure projects and regional integration efforts.

-- BERNAMA