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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
ETHIOPIA: Interview with Chinese ambassador Ai Ping
ADDIS ABABA, 15 December 2003 (IRIN) - As a major China-Africa summit aimed at further boosting relations opens in Addis Ababa, the Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Ai Ping tells IRIN that developing countries must support each other to strengthen their global voice.
QUESTION: Why is Africa important to China?
ANSWER: Africa is very important to China for different reasons. Both China and African countries are developing and we see many similarities and common interests for a more prosperous world and greater achievement in poverty alleviation efforts, so that we can develop our economies. We believe economic strength is the foundation to achieve a better life on social progress.
Q: What do you see as the complementary features between China and Africa?
A: China is a big country, a rich country, particularly if you take the total population. But in per capita terms China is very poor and the per capita income is low. Our population is about 21 percent of the world’s total but in terms of land mass it is only about six percent. Land holding in China is small. Africa is very rich with natural resources and also with much land and so we believe these features are foundations for economic cooperation. These common interests can serve as a foundation for political cooperation.
Q: What do you hope to gain from political cooperation?
A: We can see that peace and development are the main themes of the present day world. We need a peaceful environment so we can concentrate on economic development, so that we can improve our people’s living standard. If we take the international situation as a whole we can see that peace and development are the main themes but at the same time there are also some problems. In the present day world, China needs the support of developing countries in general and African countries in particular in some international affairs. We believe that to preserve world peace and create a good international environment for economic development and so forth and make progress we need the support.
Q: Critics say world events are dominated by western powers. Is this why you need this support?
A: Although as I mentioned that peace and development are the main themes, sometimes we do find hegemonic actions. For China we believe all countries big or small are equal in the international community and we would like to see the democratisation of international relations, so that the weak have the same say as the strong ones and the poor countries can play their positive role in international relations.
Q: Would you like to see changes in the United Nations Security Council?
A: Yes. The present composition of the Security Council more or less reflects the reality after the Second World War and many decades have passed and great changes have taken place so we would like to see a reform of the UN system, and we would like to see the developing countries have a bigger say. At the end of the Second World War there were almost no independent countries in Africa – now there are 53 countries. We would like to see the reform of the United Nations reflect the change in the international situation and give the developing countries a stronger voice.
Q: But trade with Africa is miniscule – is it not sensible to focus on the countries like the US?
A: We do pay close attentions to our relations with the US but at the same time we believe that trade actually is a result of economic development and reflects the reality of economic strengths. For the present Chinese trade with Africa may be about one tenth of its trade levels with the US but it is growing very fast. Just because the present figures for bilateral trade between China and Africa are very small it doesn’t mean that there isn’t great potential for development.
Q: Critics say strings are often attached to western aid. Will China attach strings?
A: Usually when we say we will not attach strings to aid it is mainly because we cherish very much the independence of our own country. We would not like to see our independence infringed. In China we believe you should do to others what you would like others to do to you. So we do not want others to interfere in our internal affairs. At the same time we would never interfere with other people’s internal affairs. So we believe economic cooperation and official aid - for China it is a way to express our friendship to other countries. At the same time we believe if we can help other countries to develop, in the final analysis we will also benefit from the process.
Q: What do you hope to come out of the forum?
A: The Forum of China-Africa Cooperation was launched in 2000 in Beijing. We know through many decades of cooperation and friendship some general principles and guidelines. So the first ministerial meeting was to lay out a general framework. At the same time we understood that African countries had high hopes from China to develop a mutually beneficial type of relation with China. This second ministerial meeting, one element is to review what we have been doing, to see if we have achieved satisfactory results. The second is to concentrate more on the priority sectors and be more action-orientated. That is why we are also having a Chinese-Africa business conference. Sectors like agriculture, human resource development and trade and investment are becoming the priority sectors. We hope to achieve some tangible results.
Q: Which tangible results?
A: Human resource development will be one area. In the past when we talk about economic cooperation, we often talk about building factories, sometimes to offer people tangible welfare, we used to build stadiums – things like that. But now the most important thing in achieving economic development is to tap the human potential so China plans to make much greater efforts in this aspect. It plans to offer more training programmes.
Q: Does your support to Africa include military support?
A: Well not much. We had some problems in our country in the past. We understand the importance of stability and peace on economic development and social progress, so for the present time we do not see very urgent and real needs for military build up. That is something very expensive. Usually we offer military assistance only when a country is facing invasion or aggression or something like that.
Q: What is the way forward for Ethiopia and Eritrea to achieve this crucial peace and stability?
A: I have been here two years and nine months. I have been engaged in African studies for a much longer time. Still I don’t think that I am in a position to advise the leaders of these two countries on how to resolve their two problems. We believe in the final analysis is up to the people of these countries to solve their problems. In Chinese history, our contemporary history, we used to have problems with our neighbouring countries, territorial disputes, disputes over sovereignty. And sometimes the problems appeared insurmountable. But the Chinese as a nation have a very long history. Maybe we have more patience than many other countries.
Our previous leader used to say when we had a problem, he used to say we have confidence that our successors, that later generations will be wiser than us. Maybe for the present time we cannot solve this problem so we will put it aside. Let later generations solve this problem. With this very recent conflict, war, it might be very difficult for the two leaders to meet and talk and solve this problem for the present. But as time goes by the situation might change. I think there will be a gradual improvement of the relations because good neighbourly relations will benefit everybody.
Q: Are you suggesting that the international community should back off a little?
A: I don’t think that international pressure, things like sanctions, I don’t think that will work. China was facing containment, things like that for a long time, but it cannot change the situation in China. Of course we would like to see all these problems disappear overnight, but I don’t think that is possible. Sometimes you need more patience and I think we should give these two leaders more chance.
Themes: (IRIN) Economy, (IRIN) Governance
[ENDS]
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