By Hu Zhangliang, Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone
FREETOWN, Sep. 29 (232News)
A few days later on October 1st, 2021, the People’s Republic of China will celebrate her 72nd birthday. 72 years ago, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, the course of Chinese history in modern times and the landscape of world development was to be profoundly transformed.
Over the past 72 years, the Chinese nation has moved from standing up and getting prosperous to becoming strong. And the living standards of the Chinese people have been elevated from bare subsistence to moderate prosperity in all respects.
Over the past several decades, China has been following the path of peaceful development, practicing an independent foreign policy of peace and adopting a win-win strategy of opening-up. China has firmly upheld multilateralism, safeguarded the UN-centered international system, and promoted the international order underpinned by the international law.
The year 2021 is of great significance for China. It marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the successful realization of the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the start of a new journey toward realizing the great national rejuvenation. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with President Xi Jinping at its core, China is marching toward the second centenary goal of building a great modern socialist country in an all round way.
In 2021, China’s economic and social recovery from COVID-19 pandemic has been accelerated. In order to protect people’s lives and health, China kept in place effective prevention and control measures with great courage, firm determination and exceptional resilience. China succeeded not only in bringing the pandemic under control but also boosting economic and social development. In the first half of this year, China’s GDP exceeded 53 trillion RMB yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.7%, injecting powerful impetus to the global recovery. For the second half of this year, China’s economic growth continues to be robust and impressive.
In 2021, China registered complete victory in the fight against poverty. The eradication of absolute poverty in China represents another miraculous achievement. It is a concrete but strategic step taken by China in promoting human rights, especially the rights to subsistence and development. China has achieved the first target of the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals 10 years ahead of schedule. Since China’s reform and opening up 43 year ago, the number of China’s rural population raised out of poverty was close to 800 million, which accounted for more than 70 percent of the global poverty reduction over the period.
In 2021, China achieved new breakthroughs in scientific and technological advancement. China’s Tianwen-1 probe successfully landed on Mars. A 62-qubit programmable superconducting quantum processor Zu Chongzhi was successfully designed. China’s space station core module Tianhe was launched. Recently three Chinese astronauts returned to Earth after working in space for three months and another 3 astronauts are about to take the next ride very soon, hitting a new milestone in China’s peaceful exploration of the space.
The year 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of the restoration of the legitimate seat of the PRC in the United Nations. China’s relations with the world has been further enhanced. H.E. President Xi Jinping attended a series of major diplomatic events such as the Leaders’ Climate Summit, the Global Health Summit and the General Debate of the 76th UN General Assembly etc… President Xi repeatedly put forward China’s proposals for the world to fight the pandemic together, strengthen international cooperation, and jointly create a better future for mankind. President Xi also solemnly announced a series of new measures and commitments on behalf on China towards those undertakings including the provision of 2 billion doses of vaccine to the world throughout this year and another 3 billion USD of assistance to the international community in 3 years.
In 2021, China firmly defended her sovereignty, security, development interests, national dignity and international justice. China continued making earnest contributions to the building of a new type of international relations, appropriately handled her relations with other major countries and cemented friendship with her neighbors and other developing countries.
In 2021, the implementation of the follow-up actions of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) entered the final stage. The eight major initiatives for China-Africa cooperation have been fully delivered and China-Africa cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative has been carried out smoothly. Despite the pandemic, more than 1,100 cooperation projects were maintained in operation unimpeded and about 100,000 Chinese technical and engineering personnel stood by their posts, supporting the economic and social development of African countries. A new FOCAC conference is scheduled to be held in Senegal in November. It can be safely predicted that with the concerted efforts of all the FOCAC members, the conference will yield new tangible results and open up a new chapter for China-Africa friendly cooperation.
In 2021, China and Sierra Leone warmly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Spanning half a century, the brotherly ties between the two countries and two peoples have grown ever stronger. H.E. President Xi Jinping and H.E. President Julius Maada Bio held a telephone conversation in May this year and exchanged congratulatory messages on the 50th anniversary of China-Sierra Leone diplomatic relations on July 29. As can be seen, new progress has been made in China-Sierra Leone cooperation in a wide range of areas, especially the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructure building and human resources development etc..
Standing at the new starting point, under the guidance of the two heads of state, the Chinese side will continue to work hand in hand with the Sierra Leonean side in further deepening bilateral relationship and proactively seeking common development.
