Ambassador Wu Peng: Chinese companies created 1.1m jobs in Africa in three years

THE Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to South Africa, Wu Peng, yesterday addressed the Global South Media Think Tank High-Level Forum and China-Africa Partnership Conference in Johannesburg, where he hailed the "remarkable rise of the Global South" as one of the defining features of the modern era.

- JONISAYI MAROMO [e-mail]

CHINESE Ambassador to South Africa Wu Peng addresses the Global South Media Think Tank High-Level Forum and China-Africa Partnership Conference in Johannesburg.

(TIMOTHY BERNARD Independent Media)

The event was attended by key panelists including the Chairman of Independent Media and co-chair of the BRICS Media Forum, Dr Iqbal Survé; Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Dada Morero; Consul General of China in Johannesburg, Pan Qingjiang; and Lv Yansong, Editor-in-Chief of Xinhua News Agency.

"Today, the Global South accounts for over 40% of the global economy and contributes 80% to global economic growth. It has become a key force in safeguarding global peace, driving global development, and improving global governance," Wu told hundreds of delegates, including members of the media, academia, and think tank representatives from China and Africa.

"As the world's largest developing country and the continent with the most developing nations, China and Africa share a similar history of anti-colonialism and anti-hegemony, as well as a common mission of development and revitalisation," he said.

Wu described China and Africa as "natural members and the backbone" of the Global South.

"China and Africa account for one-third of the world's total population. Without the modernisation of China and Africa, there can be no moderni-sation of the world," he added.