Displaying China’s commitment and friendship to Africa, the first foreign trip of the new year by China’s Foreign Minister began in Ethiopia, and included a meeting African Union Chairman, Moussa Faki Mahamat. Landing on the dark side of the Moon for the first time history with China’s new rover is a step forward for Mankind.
Wang Yi Opens New Year with Visit to Africa
Jan. 4, 2019
As has become the tradition of Chinese Foreign Ministers, Wang Yi’s first foreign trip of 2019 is to Africa. It began yesterday with meetings with Ethiopia’s highest officials, followed by his meeting today with the head of the African Union, headquartered in Ethiopia. Wang will then travel to Burkina Faso, Gambia, and Senegal. China reported that Wang hopes through this trip to strengthen coordination with Africa for the implementation of the decisions taken in last September’s historic summit in Beijing of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Wang met with both Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu. The statement posted by the Prime Minister after his meeting with Wang praised China’s “immense contribution to Ethiopia,” reported that Abiy had “highlighted” that for Ethiopia, “the new frontier of a strengthened relationship [with China] needs to capitalize on introducing new forms of technology,” and to continue the support in infrastructure development.
Neighboring Kenya’s {Daily Nation} covered Wang’s meetings in Ethiopia with a blast at the “China debt trap” lies. Citing statistics from the “conservative” American Enterprise Institute), the paper emphasized that from 2005 to 2018, China’s total on investment and construction in Sub-Saharan Africa was $298 billion. Making China “the single largest bilateral financier of infrastructure in Africa, exceeding the combined total of the African Development Bank, the European Union, International Finance Corporation, the World Bank and the Group of Eight countries.”
Wang had “initially sidestepped concerns, often made by Western nations, about whether the debt payments were sustainable,” the {Daily Nation} reported, but he then he answered: “Generally, debt in Africa has been a protracted issue left from history. It didn’t come up today, still less is it caused by China,” Wang said. He added that China is well-aware that some African nations have encountered financing difficulties, and “we’re always ready to extend a good hand when African countries need it.”
According to Anadolu Agency, Wang discussed plans to start a dialogue on security with Africa, when he met with African Union Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat today, arguing that “peace in the African continent is very important for stability in the whole world.” Faki, for his part, praised China’s help in capacity building in Africa, being the biggest partner of Africa in building roads, ports and energy facilities.
Chang’e-4: “Exploring the Unknown Is Human Nature”
There is extensive coverage in the Chinese media, both TV and print, of the astonishing Chang’e-4 achievement, and the ongoing activities of the lander, the rover, and the relay satellite. Comments by a number of China’s top scientists involved in the project are also reported: “Exploring the unknown is human nature. The Moon is a mysterious world to us. We have a responsibility to explore and to understand it. Exploration of the Moon will also deepen our understanding of Earth and ourselves,” said Wu Weiren, chief of China’s lunar program. On CGTN’s “China 24” program this morning Wu said that although China started late in its lunar program, unlike the U.S. program it is not a race, but scientific, and started from a higher ground. He said China’s lunar program welcomes contributions, even in subsystems and system integration.
“It is a perfect display of human intelligence,” said Jia Yang, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-4 probe, from the China Academy of Space Technology CAST). “Solving those problems might help lay the foundation for future space exploration. High-precision landing is a necessity for further exploring the Moon and asteroids. We hope to be able to reach the whole Moon and even the whole solar system,” said Sun Zezhou, chief designer of Change-4 probe, from CAST.
“Exploring the far side of the Moon is one contribution China is making to the world. Although we still don’t know what we might find, this exploration might influence several generations,” said Shen Zhenrong, a designer of the lunar rover.
African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat had said much the same thing, when he met with Wang on Jan. 4 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the AU has its headquarters. Expressing his congratulations on the successful landing of the Chang’e-4 lunar probe, Faki told Wang, “for humans, the Moon is out of reach, but with its super-scientific capabilities, China has successfully achieved this landing event, making history.” He, too, said that Africa, as a friend of China, is happy about its success, and hopes that African countries will strengthen cooperation with China in science and technological innovation.