CPC appreciates ties with NPP, NDC, other African parties
By Edmund Smith-Asante
Ms. Gao Xiangyang (left) explaining some issues to two African journalists from Ethiopia and Malawi |
The Deputy Director General of the
African Affairs Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Ms Gao Xiangyang,
has indicated that the CPC appreciates its fruitful relations with Ghana’s two
major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National
Democratic Congress (NDC), as well as 58 other political parties from 40
African countries.
She listed some of the advantages of
the relations that had metamorphosed from a strategic partnership to strategic
economic partnership as the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the
many exchanges between the two sides.
Ms Gao grouped the exchanges into
high level exchanges involving two-way visits by high-powered delegations.
There are also multilateral
exchanges involving conferences and visits which have resulted in major
meetings such as the China Africa Young Party Political Forum, a joint
initiative of the CPC and the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO),
and the China Africa Political Parties Theoretical Seminar; a collaboration
with the Ethiopia People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
Africa needs economic liberation
Ms. Gao Xiangyang (right) addressing the journalists with the assistance of an interpreter |
The most important thing for African
governments is to develop their countries – not whether to pursue the socialist
or the capitalist form of governance, Ms Gao said.
She was sharing her opinion with
African journalists on the best governance model to adopt when asked which of
the governance models was best suited for African countries.
Ms Gao who spoke to the journalists
last Wednesday on the successful and effective party-to-party relations that
currently exists between the CPC and about 60 political parties in 40 African
countries south of the Sahara, said “Spurring development is the key issue now
in Africa.
“Economic liberation should now be
the focus of African countries. This must be the most daunting challenge – how
to empower the population. What the CPC can do is to help Africa in its
development agenda.”
Interrupted relations
She, however, stated that the
relations with African political parties suffered a jolt in the beginning of
the 1990s with the advent of multiparty democracy spurred on by the fall of the
Soviet Union, which “brought mixed reactions in China.”
Ms. Gao Xiangyang (right) in a chat with Mr. Chen Zhe and another official from China'a Foreign |
Ms Gao explained that the misgivings
were due to the fact that when parties with which the CPC had relations failed
in elections, there were interruptions as the new parties did not have
understanding of the socialist ideals.
“So multiparty democracy brought a
negative impact on CPC–party relations,” she said but added that the situation
did not last long as many of the political parties with which the CPC had
relations stabilised themselves in the mid-1990s.
While stating that the objective of
the CPC’s relation with African political parties was to support party building
and exchange governance experience, Ms Gao urged African countries to explore
their own path of development, depending on their peculiar situation.
This story
was first published by the Daily Graphic on April 22, 2017
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