Developing world embraces the approach taken by Beijing

China’s New Era and the ideas behind it have perhaps resonated the most in the developing world.

Getachew Yalew, deputy editor-inchief of the Ethiopian News Agency in Addis Ababa, the African country’s capital, witnessed Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, deliver his report to the 19th CPC National Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in October 2017.

“What impressed me most was that he was offering a constructive partnership with developing countries, such as those in Africa,” he said.

“The report was based on economic interdependence, equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit, which Africa has been demanding for centuries.”

Bukola Ogunsina, editor of the Sunday edition of the Leadership newspaper in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, who also witnessed Xi deliver his report, said the main message she went away with was of a newly-emboldened China.

“He was sending the message that China was beginning to take center stage in world affairs and that he was determined to further develop China, take it into a new era and strengthen its standing as a major power,” she said.

One important aspect of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era is poverty eradication, which has particular importance to the developing world.

In his report, Xi committed to eliminating extreme poverty in China by 2020, which involves lifting the remaining 16.6 million people out of penury. In Africa, some 400 million people live below the poverty line.

Many of Xi’s ideas on this issue can be found in his book, Up and Out of Poverty, a collection of speeches and articles he wrote while Party chief of Ningde prefecture, Fujian province, 30 years ago.

When Xi went to the province in 1988 at age 35, the prefecture had an annual GDP per capita of $198. It is now about $8,000.

In his book, Xi argues that to eradicate poverty it is important to adhere to four principles: shaking off any poverty mentality; adopting developmental measures suitable to local conditions; showing strong leadership and coordination; and to avoid investing in grandiose projects just because they might be popular.

Yazini April, senior research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council, a research organization in Pretoria, South Africa, said Xi’s ideas contain important lessons for Africa.

“What comes across is the importance of strong local government in eradicating poverty. In Africa, the preoccupation is with what the national government does, and local governments are left on their own to try to implement policies,” she said.

“Xi prioritizes self-reliance in terms of poverty reduction, and I am not sure whether many African governments get that. If you look at their websites, they seem to be positioning themselves as the next Bangladesh to become outsourcing centers for manufacturing, and not embracing the Fourth Revolution, where future prosperity will lie.”

Getachew Yalew, at the Ethiopian News Agency, also believes poverty reduction is one of the most important aspects of the Thought.

He said Ethiopia has lifted 22 million people out of poverty by adopting a similar economic development model to China.

“One of Xi’s most important lessons is getting rid of a poverty mentality. If you think you are poor, you probably will be. This is important to Ethiopia, which was very much associated in the eyes of the West with images used at the Live Aid concerts in the 1980s. It is important for us to move away from the dependency syndrome and focus more on self-development,” he said.

Ogusina said one aspect of the Thought that goes down well in Africa is that Xi is not lecturing to African people, as evidenced in his speeches at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing in September.

“He is not asking that Africa take up communism, but advising that it finds a system that works for itself, one that fits its own national conditions,” she said.