The
Chinese Embassy in The Gambia, on Thursday 29 September, celebrated the 67th
independence anniversary of the People’s Republic of China won through a
long-run battle that was finally conquered in 1949 under the leadership of Mao
Tse Tung.
Since
then the Chinese revolution has steadily been bearing fruits into becoming
today the 2nd largest economy in the world.
“67 years ago, on 1 October 1949, the Chinese
nation after over a century-long arduous struggle achieved complete
independence and national liberation,” said the Chinese Ambassador to The
Gambia H.E. Zhang Jiming while
delivering his country’s independence day anniversary speech at the Kairaba
Beach Hotel on Thursday 29 September, an occasion attended by a large number of
members of the diplomatic and consular corps in The Gambia.
Ambassador
Zhang said the founding of the People’s Republic of China marks a historic
turning point in the modern history of China, and “has its significance
throughout the world”.
“67
years on and especially over the past 38 years of reform and opening up, China
has made tremendous progress thanks to the leadership of CPC and the tenacity
and hard work of the Chinese people of one generation after another,” he said.
“The
recent history of China, as President Xi Jinping said, is a course of blazing a
new trail, a course of delivering tangible outcomes, a course of achieving
common prosperity and a course of China and the world embracing each other.”
Ambassador
Zhang said modernizing a big country with a population of more than 1.3 billion
is an endeavour never undertaken in the history of mankind, and this means
China must pursue its own path of development.
He
explained further: “The path we have tracked is socialism with distinctive
Chinese features. Along this path, and pursuing an independent foreign policy
of peace and a fundamental policy of opening-up, China has, with merely 7% of
the world’s arable land, managed to feed its people and make life markedly
better for the whole population, which is 22% of the world’s total; China has
lifted over 700 million people out of poverty which accounts for over 70% of
the global poverty reduction efforts; China has lifted its per capita GDP from
merely 35 US dollars in 1949 to nearly 8,000 US dollars today.
“China
has succeeded in turning itself into the world’s second largest economy, the
second largest direct overseas investor and the biggest trader of goods.
“China
now is the largest trading partner for nearly 130 countries, including The
Gambia. Even in the first half of this year, against the backdrop of a sluggish
global economy, China achieved a 6.7% growth of its economy, contributing 39%
to the global economic growth.
“As
the largest developing country in the world, China has in just a few decades
accomplished what has taken many countries several hundred years to achieve.”
Ambassador
Zhang took the opportunity of the occasion to express their appreciation and
thanks to the Gambian government and their friends from all walks of life for
the commitment and efforts in promoting the friendly relations between China
and The Gambia, and for “the generous support and kind assistance” in the
process of establishing the Chinese Diplomatic mission in The Gambia, which
came into fruition in March this year.
“This
is the first Chinese National Day Celebrations hosted by the Chinese Embassy in
The Gambia since the People’s Republic of China and the Islamic Republic of The
Gambia resumed diplomatic ties in March this year,” the Ambassador noted.
In
2015, China-Africa Cooperation was lifted to a new high with the success of the
Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), where
President Xi Jinping announced that China would implement ten cooperation plans
with Africa in the coming three years, and would provide $60 billion financial
support accordingly.
This
year 2016 is the first year for China and Africa to implement the outcomes of
the FOCAC Johannesburg Summit.
“As
manifested by the recent Coordinators’ Meeting at Beijing, rapid progress has
been achieved on the follow-up actions of the Johannesburg Summit. China is
keeping its promises and suiting the action to the word,” the ambassador
noted.
He
said: “Committed to the new cooperative concepts, i.e., common, intensive,
green, secure and open development, China and Africa are taking advantage of
the two major distinctive strengths of our relations namely, the political
mutual trust and economic mutual complementarity, and conform with the needs of
each other, draw on their respective strengths, and make joint efforts to
promote industrialization and agricultural modernization in Africa through
industry alignment, transfer of technology and human resources capacity
development. China and Africa are marching forward through win-win cooperation
for common development.”
Ambassador
Zhang said China welcomes The Gambia joining the FOCAC family.
“The
normalization of our relations serves the fundamental and long-term interests
of the two countries and peoples,” he said
“Ours
is a relationship of friends, brothers and partners, one that is based on
equality, mutual respect, mutual trust, mutual benefit and common development.
“China-Gambia
bilateral relations now enjoy a dynamic momentum of development. Our mutual
understanding is deepening, our economic and commercial cooperation is
expanding, our people-to-people exchanges are lively, our coordination and
cooperation on international and regional issues is strong.
“A
lot have been achieved in just six months. We have agreed to launch an
International Conference Center project as the flagship of our cooperation
priorities.
“The
first group of Gambian students on Chinese Government Scholarships has started
their study in China. Nanning city and Banjul have renewed their sister links
and carried out the exchange of visits. And there are more being worked out and
implemented which I believe will soon come to fruition for the benefit of our
two countries and peoples.
“Under
the leadership of H.E. The President of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia and
his government, The Gambian people are striving for the Vision 2016, Vision
2020 and Vision 2025. China applauds The Gambia’s achievements and sincerely
wishes The Gambia greater success on all fronts of national development. China
will stand by The Gambia and be supportive of its efforts to safeguard national
sovereignty and advance social-economic development.”
In
his remarks on the occasion, Hon. Abdoulie Jobe, Minister of Trade, Industry,
Regional Integration and Employment on behalf of the Government of The Gambia, said: “I would not hesitate to
emphasise that the recent resumption of Diplomatic ties between the People’s
Republic China and the Islamic Republic
of The Gambia is not a coincidence,
rather the decisions made by our two leaders in this respect were based on
common and shared values underpinned by
the principles of mutual trust and respect, as well as a common sense of purpose to consolidate our bilateral
cooperation for the advancement of the welfare of the peoples of our two
countries.”
Minister
Jobe said it is because of the “great importance” attached to the China-Gambia
bilateral relations that “we are
recently witnessing several developments
and milestones in our efforts to further consolidate the friendly ties between the two countries”.
The
trade minister also said that in a short space of a few months, the bilateral
relations between China and The Gambia had garnered momentum and yielded
“significant developments”.
“This
demonstrates the readiness of both countries to further strengthen our very
promising relationship,” he said, adding: “The Islamic Republic of The Gambia
stands hand in glove with our Chinese brothers and sisters in advocating a
nuanced approach to foreign relations with a strong emphasis on development
first, win-win cooperation, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial
integrity.”
Minister
Jobe also, on behalf the President, the Government and people of The Gambia,
congratulated President Xi Jinping, the Government and people of China on “the
auspicious occasion of the 67th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s
Republic of China”.
