Chinese Photo composition showing President Xi Jinping (left) shaking hands with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in the background the US flag next to photos of US military deployed in West Asia. Photo: Zeinab al-Hajj/Al Mayadeen.
By Bouthaina Shaaban – Sep 20, 2024
At any point in our history has any Western country ever walked the same path with us, based on the African proverb says, “True friends walk the same path?”
Amid the stench of death, aggression, murder, and the extermination of an ancient, noble, and civilized people and the international impotence and hypocrisy that have become a catastrophe for humanity at large, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation commenced in Beijing between September 4 and 6, with the participation of over fifty African countries and a comprehensive, serious, and profound agenda that touches upon the wisdom and heritage of the ancients. The forum draws upon the spirit of friendship and constructive cooperation to build on these foundations, adding the fruits of human intellect to envision a future based on shared interests, mutual respect, and the pursuit of benefit for all. It places the security, safety, and dignity of mankind at the top of its priorities, proving, beyond any doubt, that “modernization does not mean Westernization.” The forum further proves that the greatest tragedy humanity faces today, particularly in the Arab world, is primarily caused by Westernization and the misguided belief that the West is civilized and just. Whereas, the West, in reality, mobilizes all its forces and destructive weapons to dismantle the very foundations of a dignified life that nations worldwide strive to attain.
Reading the language and terms of this China-Africa Forum, established in 2000, starting with this year’s slogan “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a Community with a Shared Future” and the comprehensive cooperation actions of promoting personnel training and capacity building, announcing a zero-tariff treatment for 33 African countries that have diplomatic relations with China, and focusing on deepening cooperation between China and Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade, and investment, it becomes evident that the world today witnesses a promising alternative for Western countries. This alternative offers a reassuring path that will, in the near and medium term, bring an end to the suffering of these nations caused by the West’s decades-long dominance and exploitation of their resources. It heralds the end of the West’s ability to belittle the potential of these nations, incite divisions among their people, and wage wars to exhaust them and keep them under its control.
How inspiring it is to hear Chinese President Xi Jinping stating that well-balanced material and spiritual advancement is a lofty objective of modernization. He announced that China will enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges with Africa, champion mutual respect, inclusiveness, and coexistence of different civilizations, and strive for more fruitful outcomes under the Global Civilization Initiative. President Jinping stated that China will work with Africa to implement the ten partnership actions for modernization to deepen China-Africa cooperation and spearhead the Global South modernization. These ten partnership actions include partnership action for mutual learning among civilizations, partnership action for trade prosperity, partnership action for industrial cooperation, partnership action for connectivity, partnership action for development cooperation, partnership action for health, partnership action for agriculture and livelihoods, partnership action for people-to-people exchanges, partnership action for green development, and partnership action for common security.
These actions aim to establish and build upon the respect for ancient civilizations, the recognition of the history and knowledge contributed by the peoples of these nations, from Ibn Battuta to the historic voyages of Chinese sailors to Africa, and the crucial acknowledgment that well-balanced development relies on both material and spiritual civilization.
Here lies the crux for the Arab nation, which God has blessed with a region where the three monotheistic religions were revealed; religions that are, at their core, guidance and mercy for humanity. The people of this region have also contributed to the world some of the most significant achievements of human thought over the millennia, including advances in mathematics, medicine, and an unparalleled civilization. These attainments still serve as a wellspring for the West, which even appropriates ideas and precedents, claiming them as its own instead of giving each their due recognition. The war of extermination we are witnessing today in Palestine and Lebanon, along with the repeated unjust aggression against Syria, Iraq, and Yemen by Zionist forces and their Western allies, are nothing more than malicious attempts to uproot the civilization of this nation, undermine its core leadership, and inflict humiliation and disgrace upon its people.
Since World War II, the West has assumed the role of global leadership, falsely claiming victory over Nazism while appropriating the sacrifices of 26 million Soviet martyrs who were pivotal in achieving that victory. The West built upon this falsehood the foundations of an international system and granted itself the right to financial, political, commercial, and humanitarian centrality. Furthermore, the West fabricated false narratives about its belief in justice, human rights, equality, and other such ideals, all of which are merely claims with no corresponding reality on the ground. What the West has done since World War II is to spread its military bases around the world, establish the Dayton Accords to ensure the dollar is the dominant currency in the global market, and then exploit conflicts and wars, especially in regions where it seeks to plunder resources, such as Africa and the Arab world.
It is important at this point to compare our experience as Arabs in modern history starting with the wars of independence, the wars of 1967 and 1973, the invasion of Iraq, the war on Lebanon, and the terrorist wars waged against our Arab nations under the name of the “Arab Spring” to the recent genocide perpetrated by Zionist forces against the people of Palestine with what China is offering to African countries and the Global South. China offers narratives and actions that signal a shared revival and the restoration of Africa’s resources to its people, assisting them to invest these resources in their own interests. This is in stark contrast to Western countries that have historically exploited and plundered our resources and built their own nations on the wealth extracted from our peoples while accusing our countries of backwardness and an inability to modernize. The West’s primary concern has been, and continues to be, preventing these nations from rising and holding the keys to their own progress and true independence through their resources and decisions.
Through this comparison, we reach the most important conclusion for the Arabic-speaking people: that the dependency on the West, which has been cultivated in our thoughts and curricula by various factors in our homeland, and the claims associated with it, are the root of the calamities we witness and suffer from, including wars of genocide and miseries. Thus, true liberation and genuine independence must begin with a clear and unequivocal understanding that the enemy cannot be a mediator. Those who pour weapons of death onto my enemies to destroy my civilization, history, and identity cannot be friends or fair-minded. The African proverb says, “True friends walk the same path.” The question is: At any point in our history has any Western country ever walked the same path with us? The least that can result from the heinous war of extermination against all Arabs is that it serves as a warning for them all regarding their identity, civilization, and history.
China now represents a respected and trustworthy alternative, sharing with us not only civilization, heritage, and history but also spiritual civilization, unlike the purely material one that the West has claimed solely for itself. This materialistic approach is bound to lead to Western downfall in the near future, as human life can only be sustained and flourish through a balance between the material and the spiritual aspects. There is no doubt that the structural catastrophe of the West is that it has eliminated the spiritual dimension, making money and materialism the only idols and ultimate goals that drive people to acquire and accumulate them.
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China emerges as a balanced great power with a rich civilization and a profound humanitarian and social dimension that we share with it. Here, we as Arabs must all cast off the remnants of Orientalism and the illusions that have allowed the West to plant itself even in the minds of Arab reformists. We need to review history and geography and recognize that the West sees nothing in our Arab homeland but oil and strategic location. We should turn to friends who walk the same path with us, instead of clinging to a trust in the West, which has repeatedly demonstrated beyond doubt that it is not deserved at all.
The Zionist genocide against Arabs in Palestine should provide valuable insight into everything happening from the Atlantic to the Gulf. Each of us must see himself or herself sitting amid the ruins of his/her home, just as the resilient people of Gaza and the West Bank do. From this perspective, we should build a different future for this Arab nation, which has been blessed by God with His Holy book and the “clear Arabic tongue.”
