Innholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 61/No. 37 i Beijing Review

The 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opened in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 3. Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech titled Work Together for Common Development and a Shared Future to the assembled Chinese and African leaders during the opening ceremony. The speech reiterated the importance China attaches to friendship and cooperation with African countries, and illustrated the profound nature of, and specific measures for, building a closer China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era. The Chinese Government and people have placed high value on Sino-African cooperation since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. China’s financing of African development has helped to improve local infrastructure, encourage industrialization, create job opportunities and…

Two documents • The Beijing Declaration—Toward an Even Stronger China-Africa Community With a Shared Future • FOCAC Beijing Action Plan (2019-21) Three new members • The Gambia • São Tomé and Príncipe • Burkina Faso Five-no’s • No interference in African countries’ pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions • No interference in African countries’ internal affairs • No imposition of China’s will on African countries • No attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa • No seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa Six goals for a shared future • Assume joint responsibility • Pursue win-win cooperation • Deliver happiness for all • Enjoy cultural prosperity • Enjoy common security • Promote harmony between man and nature…

Agriculture is a key area in China-Africa cooperation and can benefit both sides. Since the first summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in 2006, China and African countries have been promoting agricultural cooperation. Thanks to the devoted efforts of Chinese and African leaders, greater achievements have been made in this cooperation over the past few years by implementing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s initiative to create a China-Africa community with a shared future. This has elevated China-Africa agricultural cooperation to a new historic level. We will take the opportunity of this year’s FOCAC Beijing Summit to deepen bilateral collaboration in all areas and improve development quality. Mutual benefits Over the past 12 years, China and African countries have made out standing achievements in advancing agricultural cooperation on…

What do all these products have in common: phones, healthy juices, lipsticks, soybeans, vitamins, king crabs, vintage sneakers and BMWs? They are all produced in the United States and are being consumed on a massive scale in China. But their popularity, sales and consumption are all now being threatened by the ever-increasing number of tariffs placed on U.S. goods by China in response to tariffs placed on Chinese exports to the United States. There are likely to be two major unintended consequences of a U.S. trade war on China. First, companies’ loss of access and sales to Chinese consumers at a time when they are consuming more Western goods (and everything else) than ever before. And second, the effect one tariff on one product can have on a range of…

HERO POLICEMAN Huang Qihuan, a 45-year-old police officer in Loudi, Central China’s Hunan Province, successfully saved a family after he offered himself up to a local kidnapper in exchange for residents who were being held hostage in an apartment. At midnight on August 30, Huang was dispatched to the apartment to solve a conflict, where a man was threatening his brother with a knife. Huang exchanged himself for the hostage and persuaded the kidnapper to free the family after a five-hour negotiation, during which Huang experienced threats from the knife-wielding kidnapper, who also poured cooking oil on Huang and turned on a gas cooker, with the intention of killing them both. The knife was held to Huang’s neck for several hours, causing injuries which required him to be rushed to…

Industrial promotion: China will open a China-Africa economic and trade expo in China and will encourage Chinese companies to increase investment in Africa. China will implement 50 agricultural assistance programs, provide 1 billion yuan ($150 million) of emergency humanitarian food assistance to African countries affected by natural disasters and send 500 senior agricultural experts to Africa. Infrastructure connectivity: China will jointly formulate a China-Africa infrastructure cooperation plan with the African Union. China will support Chinese companies in participating in Africa’s infrastructure development by way of investment-construction-operation or through other models, with a focus on enhancing cooperation on energy, transport, information, telecommunications and cross-border water resources. Trade facilitation: China will increase imports, particularly non-resource products, from Africa and support African countries in participating in the China International Import Expo. The least…

Since its founding in 2000, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has, without a doubt, become a world-class international platform with a track record of delivering solid results. The China-Africa traditional friendship and cooperation already had a long trajectory before the establishment of the platform; but FOCAC has not only reengineered these ties in a more result-oriented fashion, but has also created and sustained the mechanism of regular contact and consultation, resulting in pragmatic outcomes in the relationship. China’s own exponential burst of growth in the years after FOCAC was established and Africa’s break with Western-centric global exposure during the same period provided a sound opportunity on which Africa and China could strengthen their cooperation under the framework of the FOCAC mechanism. The usual suspicions of ideological infractions and Cold…

President Xi Jinping elaborated on the national strategy of developing the Yangtze River Economic Belt as part of efforts to achieve national rejuvenation in his April 26 speech in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province. Xi analyzed the problems and challenges facing the development of this area. He stressed that it must avoid overexploitation, develop in a well-protected environment and never cross the ecological red line. Confronting challenges The Yangtze River Economic Belt is a typical basin economy that involves waterways, roads, ports, riverbanks, industries, cities, biology, wetlands and the environment. Its population and GDP both account for 40 percent of the country’s total. The belt passes through 11 provinces and municipalities, with hundreds of big, medium and small cities, linking China’s north, south, west and east. In the…

The strong performance of Chinese listed companies in the first half of the year offered a glimpse into the positive changes and strength of the country’s economy. Listed companies on the A-share market were required to file their second-quarter reports with the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges before the end of August. The combined revenue of all listed companies on the market stood at 20.81 trillion yuan ($3 trillion) in the first half, while net profits were close to 2 trillion yuan ($292.6 billion), both rising by more than 10 percent year on year, new data from the bourses showed. Firms listed in Shanghai saw revenue and profit growth rates of 11 percent and 14 percent respectively, while companies listed in Shenzhen grew at 17.24 percent and 16.86 percent. As…

As an ardent admirer of the Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber, I recently made a pilgrimage to Shijiazhuang City, capital of north China’s Hebei Province, home to the Rongguofu, a complex of buildings built expressly for the filming of the famous Chinese TV series Dream of the Red Chamber. The series, based on the eponymous novel sometimes known as Dream of Red Mansions or Story of the Stone, was released in 1987. The novel, written by Cao Xueqin (1715-63) during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the mid-18th century, tells the story of the noble Jia family during its peak and its subsequent downfall. It is one of China’s four great classic novels and a household name for most seasoned expats in the country, along with Romance of the…