The Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, Nigeria, Yan Yuqing, has said African nations should leverage their resources and market advantages to engage more in international cooperation while maintaining sovereignty and economic independence.

According to Ms Yuqing, the global trade system is undergoing restructuring, and countries need to strengthen cooperation and dialogue to jointly address challenges and promote inclusive growth.

Ms Yuqing made this known during an interview in Lagos.

She said that recently, the intensification of competition between China and the U.S. had a profound impact on global trade and international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation.  

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 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 was 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), Ms 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. 

She stated, “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 was increasingly converging.

Ms Yuqing noted that this was on the backdrop of geopolitics becoming more visible, global governance facing a deficit, major power relations becoming confrontational, and the international situation growing turbulent. To her, 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.

She stated that this 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. We are willing to work together with all parties in unity and cooperation, like passengers in the same boat, seeking win-win outcomes and avoiding multiple losses, to inject more certainty into the world and promote the global governance system toward a more equitable and reasonable direction.”

Highlighting the tariff wars between the U.S. and other economies, she said the general consensus of the international community was that there were no winners in trade wars.

She further said China had always adhered to the diplomatic concepts of mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation.

Ms Yuqing said China remained willing to work together with all countries, including the U.S., to promote the building of a new type of international relations and make positive contributions to world peace and development.

“At the same time, China opposes any form of hegemony and power politics, and advocates resolving differences through dialogue and cooperation on an equal footing to achieve common prosperity. We welcome positive changes from the U.S., building mutual respect with other countries and working together for a better tomorrow for the world,” Yuqing said.

(NAN)