By Alusine Fullah
Wang Qing, Chinese Ambassador to Sierra Leone has on Thursday, July 27, 2023 on the 3rd Session of Face to Face with shared the recent developments in China. In his key note address, Ambassador Wang Qing, started by expressing his gratitude and appreciation to the people of Sierra Leone for the long standing relationship between China and Sierra Leone. Going further, Amb. Qing shared four recent developments in China. First in the list is the Chinese economy. He noted: “During the first half of this year, China’s economy showed sound momentum of recovery with the GDP up by 5.5 percent year on year…the economy’s remarkable resilience, potential and vitality have not changed and the conditions underpinning high-quality development have not changed…”
According to him, several international organizations and institutions such as the UN, the World Bank and the IMF have recently raised their forecast for China’s growth. The second recent development according to Amb Qing is the China-Africa relations with fruitful results. In 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched by Xi Jinping, featuring an ambition to reinvigorate the old silk trading route along the East African coast. This should theoretically have seen Chinese investment concentrated in East Africa, but many other African states also sought opportunities through the BRI, making the initiative quickly expand in scope and ambition.
Moreover, Mohamed Jalloh, a representative from the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources spoke about the hospitality of the Chinese. He expressed: “All my visits in China were very successful and hospitable…the Chinese people are very hospitable and development oriented…” Mohamed Halloh further pleaded to the Ambassador and government of China to put more and more investment in the Sierra Leone fishing sector. Apart Mohamed Jalloh, speakers like Alhaji Mohamed Jaward from the Ministry of Information and Civic Education and Goerge Elliot Sam from Star Radio spoke about the massive infrastructural development of China to Sierra Leone.
Conclusively, On July 29th, 1971, the Joint Communiqué between the Government of the People’s Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations assured that the Chinese Government and people support categorically the Government and people of Sierra Leone in its struggles against imperialism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism, in its efforts to safeguard national independence and sovereignty. In the meantime, the Government of Sierra Leone recognized that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. Both governments agreed to develop diplomatic relations and friendly cooperation on the basis of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, of mutual non-aggression and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and of equality and mutually beneficial peaceful co-existence. 51 years later, we can look back at the successful development of our bilateral ties with pride and determination, as shared prosperity and a brighter future awaits our two nations.
