The Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, Nigeria, Yan Yuqing, says African nations should leverage their resources and market advantages to engage more in international cooperation while maintaining sovereignty and economic independence.
According to Yuqing, the global trade system is undergoing restructuring, and countries need to strengthen cooperation and dialogue to jointly address challenges and promote inclusive growth.
Yuqing made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
She said that recently, the intensification of competition between China and the U.S. has had a profound impact on global trade and international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The envoy noted that her country adhered to multilateralism and supported the reform of the WTO to address challenges of unilateralism and protectionism.
“The Sino-American rivalry may lead to further fragmentation of the global economic landscape, prompting more nations to seek new models of economic cooperation, such as expansion of the BRICS mechanism.
BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It’s an acronym for a group of emerging market economies that work together to promote cooperation, development, and security.
It is an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 10 countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
BRICS is considered to be a counterpart and alternative to the [G7]bloc of the world’s largest economies,
According to the envoy, amidst competition between China, U.S., and emerging powers, African countries are actively adopting diversified diplomatic strategies, strengthening regional cooperation, and participating in multilateral mechanisms to balance the interests of all parties and ensure their own development space.
Speaking on Nigeria’s partnership with BRICS, she said the country is expected to gain more opportunities for investments, technology transfer, and market access, thereby promoting its economic development.
On China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Yuqing noted that since its proposal in 2013, it had evolved into a highly acclaimed international public good and a broadly participatory platform for international cooperation in today’s world.
“Landmark BRI projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises in Nigeria, include the Lagos-Ibadan Railway and the Lekki Deep Sea Port.”
Yuqing said the development of the BRI had also made a positive contribution to promoting the healthy progress of economic globalisation, solving global development challenges, and improving the global governance system, carving out a new pathway for humanity to achieve modernisation together.
According to her, the advancement of the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Africa is conducive to fostering economic and social development in Africa and leading the countries of the Global South toward modernisation collectively.
She, however, said China firmly opposed certain western countries smear and sabotage of the BRI, through the means of pressuring and coercion.
“We appreciate Nigeria for its support and active participation in the three major global initiatives of development, security, and civilisation.
“China is willing to synergise the joint construction of the BRI and the 10 partnership actions of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit with the priority areas of Nigeria’s Renewed Hope policy.”
She said the strength of the Global South, characterised by unity and cooperation of developing countries is increasingly converging.
This, Yuqing said, is against the backdrop of geopolitics becoming more visible, global governance facing a deficit, major power relations becoming confrontational, and the international situation growing turbulent.
“On her part, the Global South is gradually emerging as a positive, stabilising, and constructive force in international affairs, breaking the long-standing pattern of western dominance in global governance.”
According to her, the collective rise of the Global South is a distinctive feature of the profound changes in the world.
This, she said, remained an inevitable outcome of the growing importance of developing countries in international affairs and reflected profound shifts in the balance of international power.
“This trend aligns with the tide of the times in development of international relations and meets common aspirations of people across the world.
“I believe that mutually beneficial cooperation should be the basic principle of all countries’ policy in handling international relations and China will always adhere to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.”
