OPINION> Commentary
A true friend of Africa
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-02-19 07:46

Counting this tour, President Hu Jintao has paid six visits to Africa, five of which were his first overseas tours of the calendar year.

Four took place after he became president in 2003.

Hu explained his affinity for Africa on his very first trip there in 1999 when he was still vice-president. He told his hosts China cherishes the friendship cultivated by generations of Chinese and African leaders. This time around, he reiterated that sentiment, promising the Chinese would forever value the traditional friendship and be Africa's trustworthy brother and partner.

The special intimacy dates back a long time. So does our talk about brotherhood. Yet now we hear clamors over Chinese greed for African resources, and "exploitative" Sino-African ties.

China and Africa have been through trials and tribulations together. President Hu's latest African visit is evidence that the time-tested Sino-African friendship remains pure and uncontaminated. The national stadium of Tanzania, national theater of Senegal, the new bridge on the River Niger in Bamako, Mali, and a malaria-control center for the West African country, are among the Chinese aid projects Hu visited this time and the latest symbols of our historical closeness.

President Hu and his entourage have sealed business deals, and talked about trade, which was lacking in past decades.

Despite rhetoric about "colonialism", the relationship between China and Africa is not exploitative, as some envious outsiders allege.

Instead, the new kind of partnership the two parties jointly defined in 2006 at their Beijing summit is based firmly on mutual benefit.

President Hu promised to reduce or write off debts owed by African countries, and asked the international community to honor promises to developing nations. Immediately following his remarks, we heard words of suspicion and disbelief. Will China, like some Western countries, default or reduce promised aid to Africa? After all, China itself is struggling in the grip of a serious economic slowdown.

Everybody can now rest assured. President Hu pledged to faithfully implement all aid programs inked at the Sino-Africa Summit. In fact, going beyond that, he committed the country to increasing aid.

This country has never eaten its words on things like that. The world will learn what it means when China talks about fraternity. And see who the true friend is amid adversity.

(China Daily 02/19/2009 page8)