Role model

Africa is looking to China for help in overcoming the immediate and long-term impacts from the spread of the novel coronavirus

The novel coronavirus is a severe test for Africa's governance and health systems. There are longstanding weaknesses in the health infrastructure and the government delivery of public health services in many African countries. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund estimate that the economic costs for Africa due to the virus are likely to be approximately $100 billion or 5 percent of the continent's GDP.

Without necessary personal protective equipment for health workers, ventilators for the critically ill and adequate testing kits, the novel coronavirus will pose a massive threat to the future of many African countries, including South Africa. As a continent already battling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and, to an extent, Ebola, along with widespread poverty, malnutrition and weak health systems, compared to the developed world, Africa is at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to combating the novel coronavirus.

African leaders have therefore already begun to mobilize to develop a coordinated response to the virus. A meeting of African finance ministers in mid-March affirmed the need for solutions that focus on protecting jobs, especially in service industries such as tourism. The ministers also stressed that there needs to be coordination in the procurement and distribution of much needed medical and pharmaceutical supplies.

Following this meeting, South Africa's President, Cyril Ramaphosa, chair of the African Union, convened a meeting of the AU Bureau on March 26 to develop a common African response to the virus. The outstanding feature of this meeting was the agreement by all African countries on a unified approach to fighting the virus and the establishment of the African Coronavirus Fund.

President Ramaphosa was subsequently given the mandate by the AU leaders to appeal to G20 support at the G20 virtual meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia on March 26. At the G20 meeting, he appealed for economic assistance for Africa to help fight against the pandemic. He called on the G20 members, particularly the more developed countries to support financial packages for Africa to be given debt relief from the IMF and the World Bank so that countries are able to halt their international debt repayments so they can focus on the fighting against the virus.

President Ramaphosa and Africa valued and appreciated the contribution by President Xi Jinping at the G20 meeting which contained a number of constructive and balanced proposals focusing on the need "to strengthen confidence, to act with unity and work together in a collective response" and with a strong focus on international cooperation.

Africa welcomed the four broad actions that President Xi proposed, namely, fighting an all-out global war against the COVID-19 outbreak, a collective response for control and treatment at the international level, international organizations' playing active roles, and enhancing international macroeconomic policy coordination. Africa also welcomed his call for the G20 members to take collective action to cut tariffs and remove barriers to facilitate the unfettered flow of trade.

It is significant that the proposals put forward by President Xi, to a large extent cover and overlap with the proposals that President Ramaphosa put forward on behalf of Africa. The synergies that exist between China and Africa, present numerous opportunities for enhanced cooperation between China and Africa on combating the spread of the virus in Africa.

In this regard the role of President Ramaphosa as the Chair of the AU in 2020 is of significance, as it is known that he attaches great importance to the strategic friendship between Africa and China. President Ramaphosa has lauded the comprehensive, resolute and thorough measures taken by the Chinese leadership and the resilience demonstrated by the Chinese people to stem the spread of the virus in China as well as his appreciation for the support that China is in the process of giving to Africa and South Africa. In this regard, the president thanked Jack Ma for his support to Africa, as well as Tencent, and the Chinese government for the support they have provided.

Due to the constructive role and proposals by China, Africa is, in principle, satisfied with the outcome of the G20 meeting and felt that the G20 leaders have recognized Africa's needs during the pandemic and agreed that the notion of Africa being at the "back of the line" for medical equipment like ventilators would be to the detriment of humanity.

It was evident that the G20 leaders realized that African countries need adequate financial safety nets, as the G20 joint statement expressed concern about poor countries, and for help to strengthen capacity building and provide technical assistance to "at-risk countries" and to mobilize development and humanitarian assistance. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund also called on members to immediately suspend the debt repayments of poor countries.

With the virus raging in Africa now, China, while strengthening its own prevention of the spread of the virus, has increasingly shared its experiences with African countries and is lending a timely hand to support Africa to the best of its ability. China has provided two batches of testing reagents to the AU and sped up its supplies of medical masks and protective suits, to a number of African countries. Chinese experts with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have held videoconferences with 24 African countries and passed on the lessons of their anti-epidemic experiences and Chinese medical teams have been mobilized to participate in operations to combat the virus in the countries where they are stationed.

In fact, the minister of health of South Africa announced on April 1 that the South African government has decided to approach China and Cuba for help in the combating of the novel coronavirus. The minister added that the focus was mainly on China because of its wide experience in containing the virus and Cuba for its medical expertise. The minister emphasized that China was going to be "used as an example" for South Africa in fighting the spread of the virus.

The Chinese people have suffered significantly over the last few months, receiving widespread praise for the comprehensive, resolute and thorough manner in which they stemmed the spread of the virus in China. It is truly sad therefore that at a time when the world desperately needs concerted international or multilateral cooperation, solidarity and compassion to overcome this devastating crisis, that some people prefer to play a counter-productive blame game spewing distorted and questionable facts and in the process regrettably displaying an ugly prejudice and bias which contributes to shameful stereotyping of China and in fact "racial hatred" toward the Chinese people.

Africa and China know that solidarity and international cooperation are the most powerful weapons to overcome the crisis. Africa knows that China will join hands with countries in Africa and elsewhere to fight the pandemic and safeguard global health, so as to promote a better and healthier shared future for humankind.

The author is a former senior diplomat in the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and a senior research fellow with the Institute of African Studies at Zhejiang Normal University. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.