South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) as "a huge success", saying it was actually "a millstone" in an interview with CGTN at the sidelines of the FOCAC on Tuesday.
"The relationship between China and Africa has now entered a golden age. A real fantastic age of deep cooperation, a beneficial partnership where all of us look at the win-win outcome," he said.
Talking about the so-called colonialism, the president said there is no new colonialism, and this relationship has its roots in history.
"We will also engage in the struggle against the colonist from the northern hemisphere," he added.
Ramaphosa also stressed that China does not deprive the African continent of the resources, but is a partner who wants to assist its fellow partners to "reach higher industrialization", supporting many African countries to industrialize.
"That’s quite a forward-looking pronouncement, very futuristic," the president noted, saying that the achievements based on the cornerstone of a "shared future, real initiatives".
Speaking of multilateralism, he said there is nothing wrong in saying that countries come first, but "if you are doing it at the expense of other countries, it is a problem".
Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the roundtable meeting of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sept. 4, 2018. /VCG Photo
Read more:
China, Africa embark on the distinctive path of win-win cooperation
During the 2018 Beijing Summit, China pledged 60 billion US dollars in financing for African nations, which President Ramaphosa said would be spent on a composed of categories of funding and the 60 billion dollars announced in 2015 were spent on investment and infrastructure.
"The categorization should be left to the country themselves, I would say rather standing on the rooftop of some tall buildings somewhere in the world and criticize, it should be left to those respective countries themselves how they want to participate in this funding that has been made available," he said.
As for China's "five-nos" policy, Ramaphosa hailed it as "the same political perspective that Africa has", saying the policy is born out of a revolutionary approach to development, to relations with other countries.
The "five-nos" approach in China's relation with Africa: no interference in African countries' pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions; no interference in African countries' internal affairs; no imposition of China's will on African countries; no attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa; and no seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa.
"You respect them so much that they must deal with their own issues," he stressed.