Foreword

China is the largest developing country in the world, and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Shared past experiences and similar aims and goals have brought China and Africa close together. China and Africa will always be a community of shared future. Developing solidarity and cooperation with African countries has been the cornerstone of China's foreign policy, as well as a firm and longstanding strategy. In the fight for national liberation and independence, China and African countries supported each other and expanded mutual political trust in the process. In pursuing economic development and national rejuvenation, both sides have been helping the other and increasing the scope of cooperation. On major international and regional issues, they have coordinated their positions and jointly safeguarded international equality and justice.

Entering the new era, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the principles of China's Africa policy – sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests, charting the course for China's cooperation with Africa, and providing the fundamental guidelines. The dual successes of the Johannesburg Summit in 2015 and the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2018 pushed China-Africa cooperation to a new and unprecedented high. President Xi Jinping and African leaders unanimously decided at the FOCAC Beijing Summit that the two sides would work to build an even stronger China-Africa community of shared future, advance cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, establishing a new milestone in China-Africa relations.

China-Africa friendship has not been an overnight achievement, nor has it been gifted from on high. Rather, it has been fostered throughout the years when China and Africa supported and stood alongside each other in trying times. China has aided to the limit of its capabilities the development of Africa, and has been grateful for the strong support and selfless help African countries and their peoples have extended to China for a long period of time. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, China and African countries have continued to provide mutual support, writing a new chapter in China-Africa solidarity and friendship at times of crisis.

This white paper is designed to document the successes of China-Africa cooperation in the new era, and offer a perspective on future cooperation between the two sides.