Wang: China will help Africa on peace, growth

China will continuously support Africa on its path to peace and development and will dedicate itself to fulfilling the aspirations of the continent's nations, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Thursday at the United Nations.

Wang talked about the future of China-Africa cooperation in the UN Security Council while hosting the ministerial meeting on cooperation between China and Africa on matters before the council.

Africa is the most significant and trusted partner for China, Wang told his counterparts from Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, current members of the 15-member Council, and Niger and Tunisia, members-elect of the council.

Reflecting the appeals of African countries, addressing their concerns and protecting their interests are central focuses of China's work on the council, Wang said.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who delivered a message to the meeting, hailed the increasing cooperation between China and Africa.

"Over the past decade, the partnership between Africa and China to promote peace and security across the continent has grown rapidly and in multiple ways through China's engagement with Africa, Africa's own initiatives and ever closer UN-AU cooperation, including with regional organizations," his letter said.

To better cooperate within the framework of the UN Security Council, China and the council's African members need to highlight unity, negotiations, independence of the African continent and development of both parties, Wang said.

With unilateralism being the biggest challenge for the current international situation, challenging basic rules of international relations and impacting the role of the UN, African countries and China should enhance their unity and stand together on the council, he said.

Wang stressed that China had developed a "three-plus-one" coordination mechanism with the African members of the Security Council starting in 2018, and suggested all make full use of it.

Negotiation has been a remarkable tradition in Africa, Wang continued, and the continent hosts regional and subregional organizations that are experienced in mediating in the region. He urged the parties to utilize well the UN's role in conciliating and peacemaking.

"The international community, the Security Council in particular, must shoulder its dual responsibility" in helping Africa to build capacity and accumulate funding, Wang said in an address Thursday to the full Security Council at its meeting on peace and security in Africa.

With African countries looking to the UN for sufficient, stable and sustainable funding support for African Union-led peace actions, Wang called on members of the council to reach a consensus on this subject as soon as possible and take more concrete steps for peace and stability in Africa.

The council ought to listen to and respect the will of African peoples while dealing with hot spot issues, Wang said, as the African nations and people know the best about the problems in the region, and have both the capacity and wisdom to solve all the problems.

The continent on its own has developed strong and effective frameworks for addressing security challenges and threats, said Neledi Pandor, minister for international relations and cooperation of South Africa, to the Security Council.

Wang also pledged to connect China's Belt and Road Initiative with the AU's Agenda 2063, the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the development strategies of individual African countries to help them develop and to ultimately eliminate the conflicts.

"When it comes to helping Africa safeguard peace and security, China has never been absent," he said.

Currently, more than 2,000 Chinese peacekeepers are defending peace in Africa, and the Chinese Navy has guarded more than 6,700 ships during escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and waters off the coast of Somalia, he said.

China has assisted and will continue to assist the Democratic Republic of Congo in battling the ongoing Ebola virus outbreak, said Wang, calling on the international community to take more solid steps on helping with that battle.

"China and Africa are good friends, good brothers and good partners," Wang said, and China will follow the principles of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith, and pursuing the greater good and shared interests introduced by President Xi Jinping as the fundamental guides to China's Africa policy.