Founder of Sino-Tanzanian Friendship, A Great Immortal

Ambassador of China to Tanzania

China Embassy to Tanzania

In February 1965, President Nyerere paid his first state visit to China, and he was warmly welcomed by Chinese leaders and people. During the visit, China and Tanzania signed a friendship treaty, which is the first friendship treaty signed by China and countries in eastern and southern Africa, and has played an important leading and exemplary role in China’s development of relations with Africa. When President Nyerere tentatively asked China to help build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA), Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai and other Chinese leaders did not hesitate to respond positively despite China’s own economic difficulties. President Nyerere was deeply moved by China’s equal treatment, sincerity and selflessness, and has formed an indissoluble bond with China since then.

At the request of President Nyerere and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda, China invested a great deal of manpower, material and financial resources to build the TAZARA with a total length of 1,860 kilometers. President Nyerere said emotionally at the official handing-over of TAZARA: “This railway exists because of hard physical labour, the ingenuity, and the willingness of the Chinese people to share what little they have. And, it has all been done as between equals. … China has shown us the real meaning of revolutionary commitment and international solidarity. I would like to think that we shall at least make a genuine attempt to live up to the example which you have shown us.” The TAZARA remains China’s largest single foreign aid project to date, providing key support for the national liberation movement in southern Africa, playing an important role in the economic and social development along the route, and becoming a monument to China-Tanzania and China-Africa friendships.

President Nyerere was also keen to promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between independent African countries and China, and did a lot of work for the People’s Republic of China to restore its lawful seat in the United Nations. As early as his first visit to China, he publicly stated that excluding the People’s Republic of China from the United Nations would not be conducive to world peace, and would greatly reduce the influence of the United Nations. Thanks to the joint efforts made by Tanzania and other friendly countries, in 1971, the 26th session of the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 to restore the lawful seat of the People’s Republic of China. At that time, Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Tanzania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, acclaimed at the venue, leaving a classic moment on the United Nations stage of defying power and defending justice.

Although he is gone, his spirit is immortal. As former Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda said, the best memorial to Julius Nyerere is to inherit his career. Today, the Tanzanian government and people led by President Samia Suluhu Hassan hold high the great banner of Nyerere Thought and push forward the country’s construction and development with tenacious courage. President Nyerere’s blueprint for national development is constantly being realized, and the process of African integration has entered a new era. The tree of Sino-Tanzanian friendship cultivated by President Nyerere is growing vigorously. In February this year, the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Leadership School, jointly built by the six parties in southern Africa and supported by the Communist Party of China (CPC), was completed and put into operation, entrusted with our deepest memory of this “son of Africa” and the great immortal.

Founder of Sino-Tanzanian Friendship, A Great Immortal

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