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H.E
Mr. Yang Jiechi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of
China,
Distinguished Members of the delegation,
Dear Invited Chinese Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is a great pleasure for me -- and indeed an honour
-- to host this distinguished high-level delegation from China led by H.E
Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. I am particularly pleased and honoured to
welcome you once again because this is your first visit to Ethiopia since
you assumed the heavy responsibility as the Foreign Minister of China, a
country which we hold in high esteem and for whom we have the highest
respect. I thank you for being here and for honouring us by your
presence.
Excellency
Foreign Minister,
Distinguished Members of the Minister's Delegation,
Chinese Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am extremely pleased to state that our ties with
China are strong, and they are growing by the day. These ties cover a
whole range of areas, and they involve activities in both the bilateral
and the multilateral spheres.
In the bilateral area, the co-operation between our
two countries in the economic domain has grown by leaps and bounds. It
continues to grow as can easily be testified by the expanding Chinese
involvement in Ethiopia's effort in the areas of education, health,
agriculture, and building of infrastructure. Ask any Ethiopian. He or
she is more likely than not to think of China when the occasion arises for
him or her to talk about the very many road construction projects and
other infrastructural developments under way in Ethiopia. Let me take
this opportunity to express appreciation to all Chinese who are here in
Ethiopia engaged in various development activities. I want to tell the
Minister what I had already told him in private --- we appreciate the
services of your compatriots here in Ethiopia; and we respect them, and we
are learning from them, including from their work ethics.
Although we need to do more to ensure mutual
benefits, trade between us has also been growing fast. The growth in this
area, particularly over the last year or so, has been very impressive.
The potential for expansion in trade between our two countries is indeed
enormous. Our co-operation is also expanding in the investment sector.
The future is promising in this areas as well.
All this has of course been possible because of our
excellent ties in the political area which is based on mutual respect and
mutual considerations to each other's sensitivities. I will have occasion
to say more on this in a short while, but let me underline how much we are
pleased over the status of our political relations. These have indeed
provided the basis for the rapidly growing co-operation between us in the
areas I mentioned a while ago.
Let me take this opportunity to reiterate the
principled Ethiopian position with respect to our " one China policy".
This is a consistent policy of Ethiopia which brooks no ambiguity, and
conditioned on no other extraneous consideration. China can always count
on Ethiopia's consistency and predictability on this matter. I should
add, this is also a tradition of our people and country.
We have also not been disappointed by China whenever
it has been necessary for us to count on the support of China on matters
that are manifestly just and fair. In fact, Ethiopia has never been
unfairly demanding of its partners. There have hardly been instances --
now or in the past ---- when supporting Ethiopia has been problematic for
Ethiopia's partners from the stand point of international law.
Excellency
Minister,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The
partnership between Ethiopia and China has also been growing in the
multilateral area, particularly within the frame- work of the Forum on
China-Africa co-operation (FOCAC). We have been keen to see the
friendship between Africa and China grow and expand. This grows from the
conviction that it is in the interest of Africa for these ties between
China and Africa to be deepened. Obviously, China and the peaceful rise
of China in todays global arena is an inspiration for Africa and, indeed,
to us all in the developing world.
China has
also an honourable history in terms of support for the decolinization of
Africa and for its liberation. This is a matter of dignity for the people
of Africa and a matter of self-respect. We should not be paralyzed by the
experiences of the past, but it is only at our own peril that we would
overlook the lessons from the period, not all that old. All these have
indeed contributed to making the Forum on China-Africa co-operation a
success. There may be a few things, here and there, that need to be
revisited to ensure that the Forum would continue to gather momentum and
that it would continue to be, and be seen to be, mutually beneficial.
These are challenges we can overcome together. The mutual trust needed to
make this easily achievable is indeed amply available.
We in
Ethiopia are very pleased to have been closely associated with the Forum
and to have served as the co-chair at a very critical period of the
process. We did our best during our co-chairmanship to ensure that the
Forum would be a success. We did this because of our sincere conviction
that the process is in the mutual interest of Africa and China. Egypt has
received the baton from Ethiopia. I am confident that our Egyptian
friends would consolidate the tradition and contribute to the farther
deepening of the China-Africa partnership.
Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is not
a few that appear to be bewildered by how much the friendship with China
is highly valued in Africa, including in Ethiopia. It is an insult to the
intelligence of Africans to assume that some how Africans would be
hoodwinked into believing that some have altruistic objectives in their
foreign policy calculations. All nation states, without exception, pursue
national goals; objectives which in their best judgment would promote
national interest. The yardstick for judging whether a partner is fair in
the conduct of its foreign policy is the degree to which it is committed
to seeking mutual advantages based on mutual respect, consistent with
principles of international law governing inter-state relations. It is
just downright disingenuous to try to make it look like that the attempt
often made to put aside the Westphalian principles are dictated by the
need to protect universal values and by the imperative necessity to
promote non-selfish pursuits in the interest of humanity in general.
All this
means that the co-operation between China and Africa is based on pragmatic
assessment of our mutual interests with claims made by neither to know
what would be in the interest of the other better than the one directly
concerned. Nor have we tried --- and the Chinese have been scrupulous in
this regard --- to set standards of behaviour for each other as
conditionalities to be met for partnership. The Chinese approach has been
characterized by humility which nations such as Ethiopia cannot but
admire. It is no wonder that the same sentiment is widespread in Africa.
This is perhaps the reason for the success of the Forum on China-Africa
co-operation. This is also the reason why the Third Conference of the
Forum which was held in Beijing at the beginning of November 2006 was
graced by the biggest ever attendance of meetings by African leaders. No
doubt, there may be room for improvement. We have always been frank in
our discussion with the Chinese friends with respect to how the
partnership can be made even more mutually beneficial. This is work in
progress. But what has already been achieved warrants the expression of
gratitude to China for its friendship towards Ethiopia, and the people of
Africa. It would be remiss of me if I failed at this point to express
profound appreciation to China for its decision to build an ultra-modern
Conference Centre for the AU here in Addis Ababa on the ground donated by
Ethiopia to Africa.
Excellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before
concluding I want to State how the timing of this visit is indeed
propitious. It is coinciding with the last stretch of the preparation for
the Bejing Olympics which we have no doubt will be a resounding success.
Equally resounding would be, without doubt, the success of our long
distance athletes whose feat has become legendary while they are still
alive. They are Ethiopia's gift to the Beijing Olympiad to which we look
forward with great expectation.
With
those remarks I would like to invite you all to join me in a toast wishing
good health to H.E. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and ever lasting success
to the friendship between the people of Ethiopia and China.
I Thank you
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