Int'l community speaks highly of Xi's Africa visit

WIN-WIN CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION

Mahmoud Allam, former Egyptian ambassador to China, said Xi assured African governments and people that China will be a staunch supporter of Africa's prosperity, stability and security.

Xi also stressed the mutually beneficial friendship between China and Africa, asserting that bilateral cooperation will produce win-win results, Allam said.

Martin Nguru, a lecturer at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies of University of Nairobi, said China and Africa, as Xi put it, have been "a community of shared destinies" and that China's participation in African affairs will help African countries realize their "African dream."

China, as the second largest economy in the world, calls for equality and opposes hegemonism. This has greatly encouraged African countries in their efforts to safeguard sovereignty and independence, Nguru said.

Cheng Li, director of research and senior fellow of the John L. Thomton China Center at The Brookings Institution, said Xi's speeches in Africa sent a message that China's investment in Africa, plus their trade and economic cooperation, would yield win-win results for both sides, instead of benefits for only one party.

China will never extract resources on the continent, but rather facilitate common development through complementarity, he said.

DEEPENING BRICS PARTNERSHIP

Henning Kristofersen, a Norwegian China expert, said Xi at the summit "sent clear and reassuring signals towards the other four countries, as he has wisely focused on developmental similarities, rather than geographical distance and potential difficulties."

"China and the rest of the BRICS countries increasingly stand out as the engines of the world economic development," he said.

At the summit, BRICS countries agreed to establish a development bank and create a foreign exchange reserves pool.

"More formalized cooperation between them (BRICS countries) confirms a serious ambition to challenge the current world order," Kristofersen said.

Elias Jabbour, a Brazilian expert of human geography, said that Xi's words at the BRICS summit have reassured other BRICS nations. He was referring to Xi's remarks that China will "continue to take development as the top priority" and "enhanced cooperation with other BRICS countries has always been a priority on China's diplomatic agenda."

China, with its strength, can become a main force to promote the BRICS development, Jabbour said.

Argemiro Procopio, professor of international relations at the University of Brasilia, said that Xi in his speech called for a global development partnership and common prosperity of all countries, which expressed China's goodwill to its partners.

As BRICS' most populous country with the biggest economy, China's attitude is crucial for its development, Procopio said.

Yakov Berger, a professor at the Far East Institute of the Russian Academy of Science, said Xi's keynote speech at the BRICS summit implies that cooperation among BRICS countries is not only important for themselves but for the reform and reconstruction of the global economic system.

The summit has upgraded the BRICS mechanism and will affect the global economic order, Berger said.

Professor Qiao at the Texas Southern University said the specific steps taken at the BRICS summit are an important complement to the current international foreign exchange mechanism and global financial safety nets.

Moreover, cooperation with Africa is the first of its kind for the group to explicitly extend to the regions outside BRICS nations, he said, adding that the BRICS cooperative mechanism will have more influence on the world economy.