As Chinese Embassy in Maseru celebrates China’s 75th anniversary
Silence Charumbira
MASERU, Lesotho – China will provide Lesotho with M24 million in grant aid for corporation projects including agriculture machinery and infrastructure, Chinese Ambassador to Lesotho, His Excellency Yang Xiaokun, has said.
Ambassador Yang told guests during the 75th anniversary of the founding of China in Maseru on Wednesday evening that he had recently met Foreign minister Lejone Mpotjoane and had an in-depth exchange of views on how to realise better bilateral cooperation under the 10 partnership actions of the Beijing Summit to reflect our strategic partnership.
“I am very glad to tell you that China will provide Lesotho with 100 million RMB yuan in grant aid for cooperation projects that Lesotho prioritises; provide Lesotho with agricultural machinery worth millions of US dollars and accelerate the building of the agricultural product storage, logistics, and trading center to support Lesotho’s spring sowing; provide Lesotho with 10 million RMB yuan (about M24 million) of emergency food aid to help alleviate food shortages caused by extreme weather,” Ambassador Yang said.
He told guests who included top government officials and the diplomatic community that they would actively promote the signing and implementation of the second phase Mafeteng Photovoltaic Power Station project.
The two countries had agreed to build a Confucius Institute with vocational training on agricultural technics in Lesotho and provide more government scholarships and various short-term training opportunities for Lesotho.
“Shandong Province in China and Maseru are actively promoting the establishment of their sister province-state relationship. With sincere efforts and fruitful results, the flower of friendship between the two sides is bearing abundant fruits, and practical cooperation between China and Lesotho is shining with unparalleled brilliance.”
“As the Chinese saying goes, “Fire burns brighter when everyone adds wood,” and similarly, an African proverb states, “If you want to go fast, walk alone; and if you want to go far, walk together.” The historic achievements in the past 75 years couldn’t have been possible without the support of our African brothers, including Lesotho. We have always been doing what we can to help African brothers, including Lesotho, develop their economies and improve their livelihoods.”
Ambassador Yang said the immense transformation that his country has gone through in the last 75 years on the back of pragmatic leadership.
The Chinese people had “witnessed tireless struggles of the Chinese people and monumental transformations of the once troubled nation”.
“The Chinese people have achieved a great leap from standing up, to getting rich, and now to becoming strong. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, under the strong leadership of the party’s central committee with comrade Xi Jinping at its core, China has gained historic achievements and undergone historic changes. China’s national rejuvenation has become a historical inevitability,” Ambassador Yang said.
“First, we have wiped away the century-long humiliation and ushered in independence and liberation. On October 1st, 1949, the great leader Chairman Mao Zedong solemnly announced the founding of the People’s Republic of China, putting an end to China’s history as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. We thus secured the nation’s independence, liberated our people, injected new momentum and confidence into the global anti-imperialist, anti-colonial, and anti-hegemonic movements, and provided valuable lessons for other nations’ struggles towards independence.”
Secondly, China had shaken off poverty and become the world’s second-largest economy while its GDP had grown from $12,3 billion in 1949, accounting for less than 5% of the world total, to 517,9 trillion in 2023, comprising 16,9% of the global economy. Over the years, China’s average annual contribution to global economic growth has exceeded 30%, maintaining its position as the world’s largest trader of goods.
“In the first half of this year, China’s GDP reached $8,7 trillion, growing by 5% year-on-year, making itself a vital engine and stabiliser for global economic growth.
“Third, our international standing has increased, with growing influence, appeal, and shaping power. Along with the enhancement of the overall national strength, China has stepped closer and closer to the center of the global stage, becoming a major country with significant international status and influence. China has emerged as an important participant, builder, and contributor to the international system, profoundly reshaping the world economic landscape and geopolitical structure. Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress, the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind, proposed by China, has evolved into an international consensus.”
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He said high-quality Belt and Road cooperation had become a well-received public good and a global platform with the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative resonating widely, to bring about greater democracy and multipolarity to international relations and contributing China’s solutions and wisdom to the building of a more just and equitable international order.
The fundamental reason for China’s historic achievements over the past 75 years lay in the robust leadership of the Communist Party of China. Both history and reality had proved that without the CPC, there wouldn’t be a New China.
“Over the past 75 years, the CPC has led the Chinese people through painful struggles, and realised the first Centenary Goal. The success of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee signaled that the CPC will continue to lead the Chinese people in comprehensively deepening reform to advance Chinese modernisation, and march resolutely towards the second Centenary Goal.
“China has independently explored a development path suited to its national conditions—the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The successful practice of this path has not only yielded remarkable achievements for China but also offered a new option for modernisation to other developing countries.”
China had consistently adhered to the path of peaceful development, striving for a peaceful international environment for its own development and at the same time using its own development to promote world peace. China leveraged global opportunities fully while benefitting the world with its own opportunities.
