China’s advice to Africa political parties: ‘Don’t fight’

What you need to know:

The Chinese ambassador for Affairs of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Mr Zhou Yuxiao, said recently that it would be a waste of time to engage in infighting instead of building consensus among the various interest groups in the country.


Dar es Salaam. For developing countries to make definable progress, efforts should be on development initiatives instead of spending much time fighting each other among the political parties.

The Chinese ambassador for Affairs of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Mr Zhou Yuxiao, said recently that it would be a waste of time to engage in infighting instead of building consensus among the various interest groups in the country.

Speaking on the sidelines of a two-day Africa thematic event which brought together the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and what were liberation movements, Mr Zhou said dealing with the huge African population is not a simple task.

“We need to work hard and in unity among the political parties, the governments, the peoples, universities, NGOs and so on so that no energy is wasted,” he emphasised.

He underscored the importance of dialogue and consensus building saying that the more opinions were solicited from different quarters of a country the more the policies designed will be more adaptable and useful to the actual situation on the ground.

He said what makes China different from African countries is that while the world’s second largest economy practises consultative democracy, Africa practises competitive multiparty democracy.

He gave an example whereby the CPC tends to go all around the country before its congress to have consultation with other political parties, NGOs and intellectuals so as to solicit their opinions on how as a country they can best go about the governance.

“I’m not saying that ours is better and yours is worse and we don’t seek to export our models to other countries,” he cautioned, “but rather saying how we do it and how we differ from you [Africa]. May be we can learn from each other and find the best way.”

According to him, Tanzania occupies an important position in China-Africa cooperation due long-historical ties the two countries enjoy.

He also dismissed the claims that China sought to colonise Africa, saying if it that was the case then it could have done so 50 years ago.

“Some powers are doing this [anti-China sentiments] because they don’t want to see China and African countries become friends and they think that China is moving the cheese at their backyard.”

He said China had always been striving for a win-win situation and not otherwise.

He dismissed the claims that China had not been giving priority to democracy and human rights in Africa.