PRC’s 73rd Founding Anniversary: An Inspirational Development Track Record

 

Prof. Humphrey P.B. Moshi, Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies, University of Dar es Salaam.

What you need to know:

• The Chinese society has undergone remarkable transitions in a variety of dimensions: from a closed to an open society, from a poor to a pros­perous country, from an unscrewing attitude to an active embracer of glo­balization and multilateralism, and from a reactive to proactive posi­tion in geopolitics.

The leadership and people of Chi­na are celebrating the 73rd anni­versary of the founding of their nation, the People’s Republic of Chi­na (PRC).

Truly, in these 73 years, the Chinese society has undergone remarkable transitions in a variety of dimensions: from a closed to an open society, from a poor to a pros­perous country, from an unscrewing attitude to an active embracer of glo­balization and multilateralism, and from a reactive to proactive posi­tion in geopolitics.

All these achieve­ments and milestones are a clear testimony to the fact that the PRC has been an inspiration, not only to the developed world, but more so to the developing countries, and Africa in particular. These achievements and milestones will be elaborated further in the ensuring sections.

First and foremost, the founding and the subsequent rise of the PRC has contributed immensely to inter­national development, hence being beneficial to the whole world.

Spe­cifically, China contributes about 30 percent to world economic growth for more than ten consecutive years. This rate of growth is unprecedent­ed in the history of social and eco­nomic development, even for the developed western countries.

Secondly, over the 40 years China has set a new record, not only of rising to becoming the second larg­est economy in the world after the United States, but also such growth was achieved without a crisis or war.This phenomenon is also unprece­dented and unique, when compared to the development history of US, the Soviet Union, the United King­dom, France, Germany and Japan, the development of which were accompanied by both economic and financial crisis, as well as wars.

Thirdly, the Rise of China has not only been an inspiration for the developing countries, but also a morale booster, in the sense that backwardness and poverty are no longer considered as a destiny issue.

Indeed, with the right leadership, determination and commitment, coupled with peoples’ trust in the governance system, the twin chal­lenges can be easily overcome and the PRC has proved it and showed the way.

However, an effective plan­ning system has to be in place to underpin the development of requi­site policies, institutional and legal frameworks, flanked with a clearly stipulated monitoring and evalua­tion system.

Fourthly, the Rise of China is guided by the “Beijing Consensus” and not the Washington Consensus development paradigm.

Photo shows a busy terminal at a port in Nansha district, Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province, July 10, 2022. PHOTO | PEOPLE'S DAILY ONLINE

This clear­ly shows that there are alternative development paradigms available to developing countries to choose from, thus squashing the wrong per­spective that there is only a single and dominant one, that of neo-lib­eral discourse. However, we are not advocating a “cut and paste” phe­nomenon.

On the contrary, which­ever model is adopted, it has to be adapted to political, cultural, social, and economic characteristics of that particular country. It is not by acci­dent that China has adopted a mod­el labeled “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.

In other words, we strongly believe that what we term “best practice” means “what works better in one’s own circumstances”. Therefore, developing countries need to be mindful of this phenom­enon.

Fifthly, the Chinese spirit of solidarity, cooperation and shar­ing, through multi- and bilateral arrangements, has ushered in the establishment of various coopera­tion platforms, such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the Belt and Road Ini­tiative (BRI), China-Africa Think Tanks Forum (CATTF), etc.

The participation of countries in these different fora has accelerated their socio-economic development, reduced poverty, promoted For­eign Direct Investment (FDI) and infrastructure development, just to mention a few.

Evidence from Afri­ca shows that through the FOCAC, China has undertaken more than 60 percent of Africa’s infrastructure, and trade between China and Afri­can countries has grown more than 20 times hitting USD 255 billion in 2021 from a meager USD 10 billion in 2000.

Furthermore, China’s stock of direct investment in Africa has reached USD 110 billion, with near­ly 4,000 Chinese enterprises setting up plants and businesses across Africa, while creating 300,000 jobs in the continent.

In the case of China-Tanzania cooperation, we are witnessing enhanced trade and FDI from Chi­na, which has become the largest trading partner and the biggest source of FDI for Tanzania.

The sectoral distribution of Chinese investment projects in the country is as follows: agriculture (16), con­struction (67), manufacturing (456), natural resources (8), services (22), telecommunications (5), tourism (56), transport (39), and Informa­tion and Communication Tech­nology (ICT) (1).

Indeed, the above distribution shows that the invest­ments are skewed towards manu­facturing, which aligns well with the Tanzania Development Vision 2025, which stipulates that Tanzania will graduate from a least developed country to a middle-income country and a semi-industrialized economy by the year 2025.

This alignment notwithstanding, the above distri­bution needs rebalancing to reflect and address the challenges posed by both COVID-19 and the on-go­ing Ukraine crisis, while seizing the unfolding opportunities arising from them.

The challenges are basically two: First, the need to strengthen Africa’s weak public health systems to make them resilient to current and future epidemics and pandemics.Second, the imperative of enhancing Afri­ca’s extremely fragile or low level of food security through moderniza­tion of agriculture.

The grounding-breaking ceremony of China’s Huaxin Maweni 4000T/D clinker production line phase II is held at Maweni ward, Tanga District, Tanga Region, July 26, 2022. PHOTO | HUAXIN CEMENT.

With regard to the unfolding opportunities, more attention needs to be placed on dig­italization of the economy by ensur­ing that not only the requisite infra­structures are in place, but also are inclusive, as a way of bridging both the technological divide internally, as well as between Africa and the rest of the world.

These are criti­cal issues which need to be taken on board by the current and future cooperation frameworks. The above inspirational achieve­ments and milestones of the PRC, both within and outside her bor­ders, are a clear testimony that they have been beneficial to the mankind across the globe.

Therefore, there are justifiable reasons why the PRC should be sincerely congratulated on her 73rd birthday. In this regard, we wish, the PRC, its leadership and the Chinese people memorable cel­ebrations.

At the same time, we wish you good luck in your future efforts of consolidating the achievements and milestones, while sustaining the inspirational spirit and the cooper­ation platforms, for a peaceful and prosperous world.