Chinese president on establishing new Asian-African strategic partnership

Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Jakarta Friday that constructing a long-term, stable and substantive new type of Asian-African strategic partnership that is responsive to the changing times is an important issue that commands collective attention.

He made the remarks while delivering a speech entitled "From the Glorious Past to a Bright Future: Building a New Type of Strategic Partnership between Asia and Africa" at the two-day Asian-African Summit which kicked off Friday at the Jakarta Convention Center amid tight security.

The new partnership will focus on three main areas of cooperation: political solidarity, economic cooperation and social-cultural relations.

On the political front, the Chinese president said, the Asian and African countries should become partners that respect and support each other.

"On the basis of the UN Charter, the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, the Ten Principles of the Bandung Conference and other universally recognized norms governing international relations, we must uphold sovereign equality,

jointly promote multilateralism, push for greater democracy in international relations, maintain the central role of the UN in international affairs, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the developing countries," he added.

On the economic front, the Asian and African countries should become partners that complement each other with respective strength for win-win results, the Chinese president noted.

"We should expand channels of cooperation, and enrich its contents, diversify cooperation modalities and explore free trade arrangement, and encourage trade, economic cooperation, and mutual investment," he said.

"We should facilitate the exchanges and cooperation between regional organizations in Asia and Africa and give full scope to the role of governments, general public, business communities and international organizations. We should strengthen capacity-building in response to economic globalization, conduct dialogue on development strategies and learn from each other for common progress," he added.

"We should enhance policy consultation, actively participate in international rule-making in the economic, financial and trade areas, strive for a level playing field in competition and create more market opportunities and broader room for development. We should encourage greater South-South cooperation and move economic globalization in a balanced, universally-beneficial and win-win direction," the Chinese president said.

On the cultural front, Hu said, the Asian and African countries should become partners that learn from each other and draw on respective strong points.

"We should carry forward the fine tradition of the Bandung Conference that seeks common ground while putting aside the differences, advocate greater openness and tolerance, respect the diversity of civilizations, religions and values, honor the right of all countries to independently choose their own social systems and modes of development, promote amicable coexistence, equal-footed dialogue and common development and prosperity of all civilizations in the effort to build together a harmonious world," the Chinese president said.

On the security front, the Asian and African countries should become partners that treat each other equally with mutual trust, and engage in dialogue and coordination, Hu added. "We should establish a new security concept featuring mutual benefit, mutual trust, equality and cooperation. We should enhance mutual trust through dialogue, resolve differences through consultation and secure stability through cooperation in our common efforts to address both traditional and non-traditional security threats in the interest of world peace," the Chinese president said.

Source: Xinhua