China 72 years later: A friend in times of peril

China presents the world with one of the best economic development models ever. This is a model that Africa and Botswana in particular, can benchmark on. Since the so- called Fall of Communism when at the behest of the United States of America, Mikhail Gorbachev presided over the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR) with his Glasnost and Perestroika policies the world has drastically become unipolar.

The USA has usurped the power of supranational and multilateral organisations such as the United Nations and its adjunct agencies to shape a New World Order modelled along Capitalism, which it imposes directly and indirectly on sovereign states. Thankfully, the void created by the Soviet Union has been ably filled by the emergence of China as a global superpower. The statistics from that Asian nation tell a splendid story.

Here is a county that has completely eradicated absolute poverty within a span of 72 years, and all this thanks to the Communist Party of China’s peoplecentred policies that prioritised the ordinary man and woman.

With continued reform and opening- up, China has grown into the world’s second largest economy, No. 1 trader in goods and the largest destination for foreign investment, contributing an average of nearly 30 percent to global growth annually.

In the first half of 2021, China’s GDP reached about US$ 8.2 trillion, registering a growth rate of 12.7 percent. Its foreign trade volume totalled US$ 2.8 trillion, up by 27 percent.

China’s Ambassador to Botswana Wang Xuefeng proudly recounted these figures this week during the online reception in celebration of the 72nd Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China.

Pro- democracy lobbyists and activists across the world are quick to disparage and dismiss China’s development gains, which they attribute to what they say is a suppression of individuals’ rights. These lobbyists and activists will instead hold aloft Western forms and models of development as guiding beacons for the Developing World conveniently forgetting that Western democracies were built through Slavery, Colonialism and violence.

China has promised to continue to deepen China- Botswana practical cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation ( FOCAC) using Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy as a guide. This is possible given that Botswana became the 46th partner country in Africa in the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation early this year during the visit of Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Botswana has received multiple batches of medical supplies, 800,000- plus doses of Sinovac vaccine, and the 16th Chinese medical team from China during the COVID- 19 pandemic. Surely, these are attributes of a true friend, who remembers you in your time of need. And to cap it all, the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation as well as the Extradition Treaty between China and Botswana, have been signed to cement our bilateral cooperation economically and diplomatically.