Chinese leaders have urged their Kenyan and African counterparts to borrow a leaf from Xi Jinping’s latest book in their pursuits to achieve modernisation.
The officials led by Mo Gaoyi, Deputy Head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of the State Council Information Office of China, made the call on Monday.
This was during the launch of the fifth volume of the Xi Jinping Governance of China series in Nairobi, a fete that was presided over by Chinese ambassador to Kenya Guo Haiyan and Kenya’s ICT minister William Kabogo.
Gaoyi, who was the main speaker, said the book was a window through which Kenya and Africa can understand China’s latest governance ideologies and development cooperation plans for its partners.
He said that the book was of great importance owing to the strategic placement of Africa and China as the engines of global modernisation.
“Together, China and Africa are home to over one-third of the world’s population. Without modernisation on both sides, there can be no global modernisation,” he said.
He said that as China is working on its economic and social development plan for the next five years, Africa is also “marching in solid strides towards the modernisation goals set forth in the African Union’s Agenda 2063.”
“Kenya, in particular, accelerating its economic transformation and social progress under its own national development plan for the next five years,” he said, referring to President William Ruto’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
President Ruto has fronted the plan as his blueprint for the journey toward making Kenya a first-world country, with China’s interventions at its core.
China is the lead contractor for mega highways like the recently launched Rironi-Mau Summit dual carriageway which Ruto has positioned as the baby steps to the ‘Singapore’ dream.
Gaoyi said Kenya and China thus have a common ground in their aspirations, adding that lessons from how CPC has managed the same were worth noting.
He stated that Kenya and many other countries can use the book for a better understanding of the Communist Party of China and Chinese modernisation.
He said the book outlines the place of reform as a driver for high-quality development.
“All five volumes of the Governance of China dedicate an entire chapter to this subject, reflecting Xi’s unwavering determination to steer China towards deeper reform and high-quality development,” the State Minister said.
He added that the book introduces aspects of how technological innovation can help the two sides achieve the desired reforms. Gaoyi further stated that China-Kenya cooperation has evolved into a partnership for shared development, for which the text comes in handy.
“From Nairobi to Garissa, from farmlands to factories, our two nations are working together to explore a path of poverty reduction and sustainable development.”
The official added that China was committed to strengthening the exchange of modernisation experiences with Kenya, “to jointly promote shared prosperity and deliver greater benefits to the people of both countries.”
Amb Haiyan said the book offers an important window into China's development path and CPC governance philosophy.
“It is a platform for sharing ideas and insights. The book reflects Xi’s thinking and practice on governance,” she said.
The ambassador added that the book was timely, coming “when the world has a deficit of peace, security, development, and governance principles”.
She said that Kenya’s development aspirations under BETA aligns close to the China’s people-centred vision.
“The shared paths will create a strong momentum for progress,” Haiyan said.
Xi’s latest book underscores green development as a way to promote harmony between humanity and nature. Gaoyi said it was a result of the fact that “China has established the world’s largest and fastest-growing renewable energy system.”
China is hailed as contributing approximately one-quarter of the world’s newly added green areas and one of the countries with the fastest reduction in energy intensity.
He cited Kenya’s dream to generate 100 per cent of its electricity from clean energy sources by 2030, and the ongoing cleaning of the Nairobi River Basin, alongside a green fertiliser initiative, in collaboration with China.
“The growing number of Chinese new energy vehicles on Kenyan streets also serves as a vivid testament to the deepening green development cooperation between our two countries,” Gaoyi said.
The book also calls for “deepening mutual learning to foster a world where diverse civilisations coexist in harmony.”
For China, Kenya is a melting pot of cultures, and has long been a partner in the said cultural exchanges.
“Six hundred years ago, Zheng He, the great Ming dynasty explorer, dropped anchor in Mombasa and Malindi, and today, our cultural and people-to-people exchanges are bearing ever-richer fruit,” Gaoyi said.
China and Kenya recently observed Culture and Tourism Season featuring events such as acrobatic exchanges and Chinese culinary competitions.
Next year, the two sides will observe the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
The book further affirms that “win-win cooperation is essential for building a China-Africa community with a shared future”.
The officials said that China was ready to strengthen solidarity and cooperation with Kenya and all its African partners.
The two sides aim to work together to implement the Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilisation Initiative, and Global Governance Initiative.
They are also angling to “advance high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, and deliver on the FOCAC’s 10 partnership actions for modernisation.”
