AFP AND OWN CORRESPONDENT, Beijing | Tuesday
CHINA is to announce a reduction in some of the debts of the poorest African countries during the first China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing, say senior officials – but the eight countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan will not benefit from the debt reduction scheme.
Vice Minister of Trade and Economic Cooperation Sun Guangxiang said the extent of the cuts and the beneficiary nations would be announced at the three-day forum this week.
“The heavy debt burden is a challenge to the economic development for African countries,” Sun said. “Although China is not a major creditor to African countries, it is ready to work actively to contribute to debt reduction efforts”.
In his keynote address at the conference, Chinese President Jiang Zemin warned delegates that “hegemonism and power politics” was preventing the establishment of an equitable world order.
Speaking to some 80 African ministers in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, Jiang called on Africa to stand with China in addressing global inequalites and a widening gap between developed and developing nations.
“Hegemonism and power politics still exist, and developing countries are still faced with an arduous task of safeguarding their sovereignty, security and interests,” Jiang said.
Developing nations should unite and demand equal rights on the global state in an effort to establish “an equitable and just new international political and economic order.”
The meeting has also been scheduled to adopt a “Beijing declaration” reflecting a Sino-African consensus on larger political questions, including the “new international order,” a euphemism often used by Beijing that refers to the global domination of the United States and its Western allies.