Ernestos
The four-months diplomatic training for journalists hosted by China International Press Communication Centre (CIPCC), ended spectacularly for me on June 30th 2024! On this day the organisers – China Public Diplomacy Association, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs - hosted a reception and closing ceremony for us. Both Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying and the President of the China Public Diplomacy Association, Wu Hailong graced the event to lend it the requisite officialdom, as well as to bid the 108 journalists from 97 countries drawn across five continents – Africa, Asia, Pacific, Europe and Latin America, goodbye! Truth be told, it’s been an insightful programme during which the five Centres – Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and Pacific - had opportunity to visit 12 Provinces of China – Beijing, Hainan, Fujian Xinjiang, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, to name a few. It wasn’t just travelling and gallivanting across China’s spectacular cities, counties, towns, villages and ancient streets, the programme was also packed with diverse brain-racking lectures delivered by esteemed Professors from across China’s renowned Universities.
Regular site visits to companies, corporations, government departments, production factories and farms were also a part of our daily routine. It was a rollercoaster ride from the get go. It began with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for foreign journalists to cover China’s pivotal political season – the Two Sessions! This comprises China People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Conference (NPC) whose meetings were all held in the hallowed Great Hall of the People seated on the majestic Tiananmen Square grounds.
That early March, snowflakes covered our garments while the wintry wind whooshed and battered us with its bitter cold making everyone involuntarily gnash their teeth! But in the land of the brave, the feeling is mutual, actions are requited and so we surmounted our will to endure the freezing temperatures as we waltzed past the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Zedong adorned with his larger than life portrait– the founder of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) – on our way to the Great Hall of China. Here we would be exposed to a whole display of democracy with Chinese characteristics – and indeed it’s just what it says it is! President Xi Jinping’s entrance into the hall is not attended by pomp and gallantry, neither is his security ostentatious!
For one who, by all accounts, is the world’s most powerful leader, Comrade Xi doesn’t put on airs – he mingles and blends in with his Comrades, and as I would later find out, this attribute cuts across the whole spectrum of Chinese society, but this of course, this is a subject for another day! There were also multiple state visits during our stay in China, with Presidents and leaders from all over the world calling on Xi, yet another opportunity for journalists to cover and report back to their countries! A raft of events - Boao Forum for Asia; China-Arab States Cooperation Forum; China-Latin American and Caribbean States Space Cooperation Forum; Meeting of China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Cooperation; China-Africa Youth Festival and the China-Eurasia Expo – provided journalists occasion to participate first-hand in China-Emerging Market Developing Countries cooperation and friendship.
For Africa, the visits opened our vistas to opportunities that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) portend for our mother continent, especially in light of avenues presented by the Agreement on Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA). And for the discerning, the programme afforded an opportunity to interrogate Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism and the three Global Initiatives, to wit, Development, Security and Civilisation, on how they impact our interactions at bilateral and multilateral levels. More importantly, and without an iota of doubt, China has proven to all and sundry that it is the world’s factory of goods and services, and a leader in Artificial Intelligence and the transition to green energy.
No wonder, the buzzword across China’s bustling public and private sector is ‘high quality productive forces’ – which speaks to the infusion of technology in production of goods and services across the board. Consequently, China leads, to the chagrin of the United States, in the production of affordable electric vehicles. This has attracted punitive tariffs from the US in stark violation of the very principles of free trade, that the US espouses and for which the World Trade Organisation was established to promote and protect. The streets in all the cities, towns, and villages we visited were all spick and span.
Elderly men and women – some in their late 70s or early eighties could be seen eagerly sweeping and maintaining the manicured grounds and landscapes that adorn the streets! Contrary to misleading Western media narratives, the air is clean, it is not polluted – in fact, China has advanced so much it deploys powerful cutter suction dredgers to convert silt into valuable materials that can be used in construction and in agriculture as manure, thereby promoting better water governance, as we discovered on Taihu Lake Basin in Jiangsu Province. Also here in Jiangsu, we were regaled to China’s prowess as an infrastructure builder second to none when we climbed the world’s longest cable-stayed Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, which is still under construction.
And in Wuxi, we visited a workshop that produces super-large shield and tunnel boring machines – some of which, I am thrilled to say, South Africa was going to purchase for its water relay project from the Basotho Highland Water Project (Katse dam) in Lesotho. The Chinese are also lovers of nature, and will find any excuse to celebrate it, as was evident also in Wuxi, when we marvelled in the enchanting beauty of the cherry blossoms- what a night to remember! In Beijing we visited and climbed the Great Wall of China.
Mao Zedong is renowned to have famously cautioned that ‘one who fails to climb the Great Wall is not a true man!’ Well, I made it to the pinnacle of the Wall, and will have hopefully satiated Mao’s curiosity! There was occasion to learn Chinese ancient history and cultural renaissance, and what better places than the magnanimous Forbidden City and the Drum and Bell Tower could one go to immerse in China’s over 5000-year civilization! We cannot forget the Opera shows and cultural festivals we attended at which China’s cultural and aesthetic beauty would be permanently imprinted in our minds.
All these culminated last week Friday with the Conference on the 70th Anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence- co-authored by China, India and Myamar in 1954 - where President Xi Jinping articulated the importance and relevance of the Five Principles and the Vision of Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind at the Great Hall of the People. Later in the day, former Presidents of South Africa, Italy, Croatia and Ethiopia would take speak at sub-forums of the commemorative events marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles on Peaceful Coexistence at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
And it is here on Sunday June 30th that I would meet during our closing reception, a media personality from Jamaica – the vivacious Kerry Ann Collins, who would gift me a 100 Jamaican dollar bearing Marcus Garvey’s portrait! What a gift from a young lady who, just like the rest of the African journalists in my group, had no idea what impact, the level of consciousness that this man Garvey, has bequeathed Africa and her descendants! Just like he said, ‘look for me in the whirlwind’, there I was expounding to media personalities from Kenya, Namibia and Cameroon, the exploits of Garvey from the founding of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to the building of the Black Star Shipping Line and the articulation of the ‘Africa for Africans at Home and Abroad’ mantra, that defined his campaign for race relations.
So carried away, I sauntered into my memorable encounter with then Rector and Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, the late Professor Rex Nettleford in Regina, the Prairies of Saskatchewan back in 1993! Thank you Kerry, you are a darling!
Regular site visits to companies, corporations, government departments, production factories and farms were also a part of our daily routine. It was a rollercoaster ride from the get go. It began with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for foreign journalists to cover China’s pivotal political season – the Two Sessions! This comprises China People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Conference (NPC) whose meetings were all held in the hallowed Great Hall of the People seated on the majestic Tiananmen Square grounds.
That early March, snowflakes covered our garments while the wintry wind whooshed and battered us with its bitter cold making everyone involuntarily gnash their teeth! But in the land of the brave, the feeling is mutual, actions are requited and so we surmounted our will to endure the freezing temperatures as we waltzed past the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao Zedong adorned with his larger than life portrait– the founder of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) – on our way to the Great Hall of China. Here we would be exposed to a whole display of democracy with Chinese characteristics – and indeed it’s just what it says it is! President Xi Jinping’s entrance into the hall is not attended by pomp and gallantry, neither is his security ostentatious!
For one who, by all accounts, is the world’s most powerful leader, Comrade Xi doesn’t put on airs – he mingles and blends in with his Comrades, and as I would later find out, this attribute cuts across the whole spectrum of Chinese society, but this of course, this is a subject for another day! There were also multiple state visits during our stay in China, with Presidents and leaders from all over the world calling on Xi, yet another opportunity for journalists to cover and report back to their countries! A raft of events - Boao Forum for Asia; China-Arab States Cooperation Forum; China-Latin American and Caribbean States Space Cooperation Forum; Meeting of China-Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) Cooperation; China-Africa Youth Festival and the China-Eurasia Expo – provided journalists occasion to participate first-hand in China-Emerging Market Developing Countries cooperation and friendship.
For Africa, the visits opened our vistas to opportunities that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) portend for our mother continent, especially in light of avenues presented by the Agreement on Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA). And for the discerning, the programme afforded an opportunity to interrogate Xi Jinping’s Thought on Socialism and the three Global Initiatives, to wit, Development, Security and Civilisation, on how they impact our interactions at bilateral and multilateral levels. More importantly, and without an iota of doubt, China has proven to all and sundry that it is the world’s factory of goods and services, and a leader in Artificial Intelligence and the transition to green energy.
No wonder, the buzzword across China’s bustling public and private sector is ‘high quality productive forces’ – which speaks to the infusion of technology in production of goods and services across the board. Consequently, China leads, to the chagrin of the United States, in the production of affordable electric vehicles. This has attracted punitive tariffs from the US in stark violation of the very principles of free trade, that the US espouses and for which the World Trade Organisation was established to promote and protect. The streets in all the cities, towns, and villages we visited were all spick and span.
Elderly men and women – some in their late 70s or early eighties could be seen eagerly sweeping and maintaining the manicured grounds and landscapes that adorn the streets! Contrary to misleading Western media narratives, the air is clean, it is not polluted – in fact, China has advanced so much it deploys powerful cutter suction dredgers to convert silt into valuable materials that can be used in construction and in agriculture as manure, thereby promoting better water governance, as we discovered on Taihu Lake Basin in Jiangsu Province. Also here in Jiangsu, we were regaled to China’s prowess as an infrastructure builder second to none when we climbed the world’s longest cable-stayed Changtai Yangtze River Bridge, which is still under construction.
And in Wuxi, we visited a workshop that produces super-large shield and tunnel boring machines – some of which, I am thrilled to say, South Africa was going to purchase for its water relay project from the Basotho Highland Water Project (Katse dam) in Lesotho. The Chinese are also lovers of nature, and will find any excuse to celebrate it, as was evident also in Wuxi, when we marvelled in the enchanting beauty of the cherry blossoms- what a night to remember! In Beijing we visited and climbed the Great Wall of China.
Mao Zedong is renowned to have famously cautioned that ‘one who fails to climb the Great Wall is not a true man!’ Well, I made it to the pinnacle of the Wall, and will have hopefully satiated Mao’s curiosity! There was occasion to learn Chinese ancient history and cultural renaissance, and what better places than the magnanimous Forbidden City and the Drum and Bell Tower could one go to immerse in China’s over 5000-year civilization! We cannot forget the Opera shows and cultural festivals we attended at which China’s cultural and aesthetic beauty would be permanently imprinted in our minds.
All these culminated last week Friday with the Conference on the 70th Anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence- co-authored by China, India and Myamar in 1954 - where President Xi Jinping articulated the importance and relevance of the Five Principles and the Vision of Building a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind at the Great Hall of the People. Later in the day, former Presidents of South Africa, Italy, Croatia and Ethiopia would take speak at sub-forums of the commemorative events marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles on Peaceful Coexistence at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
And it is here on Sunday June 30th that I would meet during our closing reception, a media personality from Jamaica – the vivacious Kerry Ann Collins, who would gift me a 100 Jamaican dollar bearing Marcus Garvey’s portrait! What a gift from a young lady who, just like the rest of the African journalists in my group, had no idea what impact, the level of consciousness that this man Garvey, has bequeathed Africa and her descendants! Just like he said, ‘look for me in the whirlwind’, there I was expounding to media personalities from Kenya, Namibia and Cameroon, the exploits of Garvey from the founding of the Universal Negro Improvement Association to the building of the Black Star Shipping Line and the articulation of the ‘Africa for Africans at Home and Abroad’ mantra, that defined his campaign for race relations.
So carried away, I sauntered into my memorable encounter with then Rector and Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies, the late Professor Rex Nettleford in Regina, the Prairies of Saskatchewan back in 1993! Thank you Kerry, you are a darling!
