Speech by H.E. Chen Mingjian, Ambassador of China to Tanzania, at the Reception Celebrating the 74th Anniversary of PRC’s Founding Held on Sept. 26, 2023  

Over the past 74 years since its founding, the People’s Republic of China has made remarkable achievements in development. In 2022, the 20^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was held, drawing a grand blueprint for advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization. In 2023, standing at a new starting point, China will continue to promote high-quality development and high-level opening-up. China’s economic growth rate remains the highest among all major economies in the world, and the country has made solid progress in scientific and technological innovations. Moreover, with head-of-state diplomacy charting the course, a new splendid chapter of China’s major-country diplomacy has been written. China’s economic stability and development has injected confidence and certainty into a turbulent world.

This year, China’s economy has seen a significant recovery, and the quality and efficiency of development has been improved continuously. China’s GDP grew 5.5% year on year in the first half of 2023, reaching 59.3 trillion yuan (US$8.24 trillion. Goods imports and exports exceeded 20 trillion yuan (US$2.8 trillion) for the first time. The export volume of vehicles in the first seven months reached 2.535 million, making China the world’s largest exporter of automobiles. The IMF forecast that China will contribute 34.9% to the global economic growth this year, which demonstrated the confidence of the world in China’s high-quality development.

This year, China has made many advances and breakthroughs in science and technology, and solid progress has been seen in building China towards an innovative country. In terms of research and development personnel, China continues to rank No.1 in the world. China ranks the 11^th in this year’s Global Innovation Index, of which three international science and technology innovation hubs, namely Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, were among the top 10 global science and technology clusters. Tianwen-No.1, which is China’s first Mars mission, achieved orbiting, landing, and roving on Mars in one mission for the first time in history. Chinese astronauts were successfully delivered to its space station. And  the C919, China’s first self-developed trunk jetliner, has completed its commercial maiden flight successfully.

This year, China’s diplomacy weathers a tough year, injecting confidence and strength into a volatile international environment. This year also marks the 10^th anniversary of the grand vision of Building a Community of a Shared Future for Mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by President Xi Jinping. In the past decade, China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents on Belt and Road cooperation with more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations. Two-way investment between China and the countries along the Belt and Road exceeded US$270 billion over the past decade, and more than 3,000 cooperation projects have been launched, creating 421,000 jobs for the participating countries and lifting 7.6 million people out of absolute poverty each year. China will host the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation next month, and representatives from 110 countries have confirmed their participation. Actually, the BRI has become the most popular international public good and the largest platform for international cooperation in the world.

This year also marks the 10^th anniversary of China’s Africa policy principles proposed by President Xi, namely “sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith”. In August this year, President Xi Jinping proposed three initiatives for China-Africa practical cooperation in the next phase. They are Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization, the Plan for China Supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization, and the Plan for China-Africa Cooperation on Talent Development. China is ready to work with Africa to implement these three initiatives, so as to help Africa accelerate industrialization and agricultural modernization, and nurture more talented people.

The traditional friendship between China and Tanzania was forged by the older generations of the leaders of both countries. This year marks the 59^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Tanzania. In the past 59 years, our two countries have looked out for each other and pulled together as one. The traditional friendship between us has been carried forward from generation to generation. As all-round and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields has been continuously strengthened, China-Tanzania relationship has become a model for China-Africa relationship and the South-South cooperation.

By maintaining close high-level exchanges, political mutual trust between our two countries has been continuously deepened. Last November, President Samia Suluhu Hassan paid a successful state visit to China. The two heads of state jointly announced the elevation of the China-Tanzania relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, which drew the blueprint for the development of bilateral relations in the new era. During the BRICS Summit held in Johannesburg this August, the two heads of state met again, setting the direction for the two countries to strengthen political collaboration and further deepen practical cooperation in various fields. The two presidents met twice within nine months, which is a clear manifestation of the high-level strategic mutual trust and the genuine brotherhood between our two countries.

Economic and trade exchanges buck the trend with steady progress on practical cooperation in various fields. China has remained Tanzania’s largest trading partner for seven consecutive years, with bilateral trade volume reaching US$8.31 billion in 2022. Take agricultural cooperation as an example, China encourages and supports the development of agriculture in Tanzania and keeps expanding imports of featured agricultural products from Tanzania. Last year, I visited Ruvuma Region, where local women began to plant soybeans under the guidance of Chinese agricultural experts. Recently, I was happy to hear that the region had a bumper soybean harvest, which contributed to increasing soybean farmers’ income and their poverty alleviation efforts. As a number of Tanzania’s featured agricultural products, such as soybeans and avocados, continue to gain market access in China, the agricultural cooperation between our two countries will make more contributions to job creation and poverty reduction in Tanzania.

China is also the largest source of foreign investment in Tanzania. One week ago, I was invited, together with President Samia Suluhu Hassan, to attend the launching ceremony of Wangkang Sapphire Float Glass Factory, a project with a total investment of US$311 million. Chinese enterprises, such as Wangkang Group, have been actively engaged in Tanzania’s industrialization, creating a large number of job opportunities for the locals and contributing to revenue collection of the Tanzanian government.

Personnel exchanges between China and Tanzania have been more frequent, and the friendship between the two peoples has been further strengthened. Since the beginning of this year, cultural exchanges between China and Tanzania have continued to develop. We made a proactive effort to support Air Tanzania in increasing the frequency of direct flights between Dar es Salaam and Guangzhou, which now operates three times a week, which has further facilitated the people-to-people exchanges between our two countries. This year, 160 Tanzanian students have received government scholarships to study in China. In addition, China keeps providing training opportunities for Tanzania, which cover a wide range of fields such as vocational education, infrastructure building, poverty alleviation, and women empowerment. Such cooperation has helped Tanzania nurture talents of various disciplines who are urgently needed for the national development.

It’s worth mentioning that this year marks the 60^th anniversary of China dispatching medical teams to foreign countries. Since China sent its first medical team to Tanzania’s Zanzibar in 1964, more than 2,000 Chinese doctors have dispatched to Tanzania. From the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro to the remote areas beside the Ruvuma River, from Zanzibar Islands with flourishing coconut groves to the rippling Lake Tanganyika, Chinese doctors have left their footprints in various places of this country. They braved hardships and dedicated themselves to the noble cause of saving lives with total devotion and ultimate love, thus making significant contributions to the health of the Tanzanian people. Recently, a Chinese TV series named “Welcome to Milele Village”, which is based on the real experiences of the Chinese medical teams in Africa, completed its filming in Tanzania. I was informed that this TV series will be aired by China Central Television (CCTV) later this year, and the people of both countries will have the chance to watch it.

In 2024, China and Tanzania will celebrate the 60^th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Both countries will organize important activities to jointly commemorate the historic moment of the bilateral relations. The commemoration will constitute a big move in upgrading China-Tanzania relations to a higher level of comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, and inject fresh and strong impetus into the development of bilateral cooperation in the next 60 years.