The Pan Afrikanist Watchman

President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Russia from March 20 to 22, which is also his first overseas trip since being re-elected as Chinese president, was a journey of friendship, cooperation, and peace.

In addition to strengthening bilateral relations, Xi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, discussed global hotspot issues, including the Ukraine crisis, and reached consensus.

The two leaders signed and issued a joint statement and emphasised the need to resolve the Ukraine crisis through dialogue. The Russian side reaffirms its commitment to the resumption of peace talks as soon as possible.

Meeting the press with Putin at the Kremlin, Xi said China has all along actively encouraged peace talks on the Ukraine crisis.

In his signed article on Russian media published before he visited the country, Xi again referred to his speech in 2013 that put forward the shared-future notion.

“Humankind, by living in the same global village in the same era where history and reality meet, has increasingly emerged as a community of common destiny in which everyone has in himself a little of others,” he said.

Over the past decade, Xi has expounded on the essence of a “human community with a shared future” on numerous occasions.

As the term suggests, it means that the future of every nation and country is interlocked.

“We should endeavor to build this planet of ours into a single harmonious family, and turn people’s longing for a better life into reality,” he once said.

The concept has won extensive support from the international community. It has been included in some documents of multilateral mechanisms and international institutions such as the United Nations.

Xi Jinping: China committed to opening up, offering development opportunities to world

Chinese President Xi Jinping on March 26 said China will remain committed to its fundamental national policy of opening to the outside world, pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up, and continue to create new opportunities for the world with new advances in its development.

Xi made the remarks in a congratulatory letter to the annual meeting of the China Development Forum (CDF) 2023.

In the letter, Xi noted that at present, momentous changes of a like not seen in a century are accelerating across the world, regional conflicts and disturbances are frequent, and the global economic recovery is sluggish.

The Chinese president added that the facilitation of a global economic recovery requires consensus and cooperation.

The Global Development Initiative proposed by China has received wide support and active responses from the international community.

The country will steadily expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, management and standards, and will work with all countries and all parties to share the opportunities from its institutional opening up, Xi emphasised.

China, Honduras establish diplomatic ties

China and Honduras established diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level on March 26, right after Honduras decided to sever “diplomatic relations” with the Taiwan authorities.

“There is but one China in the world, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” read the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations Between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Honduras.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry immediately welcomed the move, saying the decision “is the right choice that is in line with the prevailing trend and supported by the people.”

“The government of Honduras chooses to stand with 181 countries in the world, recognise and undertake to adhere to the one-China principle, sever the so-called diplomatic relations with Taiwan, establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, and undertake that Honduras shall no longer develop any official relations or official exchanges with Taiwan,” according to a release published by the ministry.

The release added that China stands ready to enhance friendly cooperation with Honduras in various fields to benefit the two countries and peoples by following the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Honduras’ latest decision reduces the number of countries that diplomatically recognise Taiwan to 13.