Africa's freshman in a century of change

　　Cape Coast, Ghana, Gore Island, Senegal, and the slave trade base along the Gulf of Benin have witnessed the history of humiliation and bloody tears brought to Africa by Western colonialism. Colonial invasion and oppression disrupted and delayed the development process of the African continent, and once caused localized and local development to freeze and stagnate.

　　The wheels of history are moving forward, and Africa keeps chasing. With the world facing unprecedented changes in a century, Africa has ushered in a rare opportunity to achieve stable development, speed up the process of integration and enhance its international status.

　　In the first decade of the 21st century, six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world were in sub-Saharan Africa. This ancient continent is being reborn.

　　Political stability stabilizes the foundation for Africa's accelerated development

　　In 1901, in Kenya, East Africa, British settlers built a meter-gauge railway to connect the port of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean and Uganda, located inland, to strengthen British Empire's control of East African colonies.

　　It wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that most African nations got rid of colonial rule after a long and arduous struggle. However, many of these countries have fallen into turbulence successively. This is related to historical issues such as border demarcation and tribal religious contradictions left by Western colonists. It is also related to the inadequacy of many African governments in copying Western political systems and governance capabilities, as well as intervention and manipulation by large foreign countries. And so on.

　　Learning from the painful lessons of the 20th century, African countries realized that development cannot be talked about without a stable political environment. Since the beginning of the 21st century, African countries have gradually embarked on the road of solidarity and cooperation, peace and development.

　　The birth of the African Union in 2002 became an important milestone in the process of African integration. Since then, through internal cooperation and self-reliance, Africa has achieved unprecedented development, has gradually stabilized politically, and has become one of the fastest growing regions in the world.

　　The "African Yellow Book: African Development Report (2017-2018)" issued by the Institute of West Asian and African Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences states that since 2010, there has been a sharp decline in the number of disorderly elections in African countries. With the gradual stabilization of the political situation, the vast majority of African countries have achieved improvement in global competitiveness indicators from 2011 to 2016.

　　Mutually beneficial cooperation and opportunities for Africa to get rid of backwardness

　　On May 31, 2017, in the loud sirens, the first passenger train with the Kenyan flag painted on the front slowly exited Mombasa West Station. As a result, the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Rail (Munner Railway) designed and built by Chinese enterprises was opened to traffic.

　　Unlike the old railway that served the interests of the British colonizers 100 years ago, the Mongolia-Inner Railway, the largest infrastructure construction project since Kenya ’s independence, has directly created more than 46,000 jobs and trained a large number of technical personnel. The life of the local people provided convenience.

　　The new, old and two railways that cross Kenya have become a witness to the centuries-old changes in Africa and a microcosm of the changes in relations between Africa and the rest of the world.

　　In recent years, the collective rise of developing countries has created conditions for Africa to accelerate its modernization by leveraging the power of emerging economies.

　　As the second most populous country in Africa with a population of about 100 million, Ethiopia was one of the least developed countries in the world. But from 2005 to 2016, the country's average annual economic growth rate reached 10.8%. Such dazzling results cannot be separated from the efforts and exploration of the Ethiopian government and people, but also benefited from a number of industrial parks built with the help of China and a number of important infrastructure projects represented by the Yaji Railway. Benefit from Ethiopia's willingness to learn from China's development experience.

　　As of 2017, China has become Africa's largest trading partner for 9 consecutive years, with cumulative investment in Africa exceeding US $ 100 billion. The demonstration effect of China-Africa cooperation has spurred other countries to cooperate with Africa. According to statistics, the trade volume between Africa and India soared from more than 7 billion US dollars in 2001 to more than 70 billion US dollars in 2014. Between 2006 and 2016, African imports from Russia and Turkey increased by 142% and 192%, respectively.

　　Seize the opportunity to guarantee a better future for Africa

　　Looking to the future, where is Africa going in the historical torrent of changing times?

　　Chinese President Xi Jinping made the conclusion at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in 2018: Africa has unlimited development and Africa is full of hope.

　　The future of Africa is full of opportunities as well as challenges: how to seize the opportunities of the transformation of the world pattern and amplify Africa's voice internationally? How to ensure the long-term social stability and sustainable economic development of African countries? How to further improve the government's governance capacity and eliminate corruption, so as to satisfy the people?

　　Facing the challenges, Africa is in action: strengthen internal unity, promote the integration process through the AU platform, and establish the African Free Trade Area; strengthen cooperation with other countries, especially develop economic and trade relations with emerging market countries, and take advantage of the "Belt and Road" International cooperation initiatives to promote the process of Africa's modernization; through strengthening exchanges with emerging market countries with similar development experiences, and learning from each other's successful experiences in economic development and social governance, they have embarked on development paths that are in line with the national conditions of African countries.

　　"Africa has the world's youngest population and is the future of the world. By the end of this century, Africa's total population will account for one-third of the world. Therefore, Africa should have a greater say. If this goal is to be achieved, Africa must The economy must be developed, "said Kubus Van Staden, a senior researcher on China-Africa issues at the South African Institute of International Affairs.