Great wall of steel: Near-century rise of china army
President William Ruto and First Lady Rachel Ruto are received at the Great Hall of the People during a State banquet hosted by President Xi Jinping for visiting Heads of State and government in Beijing, China, on October 17, 2023.
Born in the Nanchang Uprising on August 1, 1927, the People’s Liberation Army is the people’s army led by the Communist Party of China. Over the past 97 years, it has gone through trials and hardships in the course to win independence for the nation, liberation for the people and prosperity for the country, and contributed greatly to maintaining world peace and promoting the progress of mankind.
Now the PLA is being built into a “Great Wall of Steel” that is capable of effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests. President Xi Jinping noted that China will always, as ever before, be a promoter of world peace, contributor to global development and upholder of the international order, and hence the Chinese army will always be a staunch force in keeping world peace. The glorious history of the people’s army was forged in blood, and thus it merits our remembrance.
Seventy years ago, the Chinese leadership specified the five principles of peaceful coexistence in their entirety for the first time, namely, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.
With their inclusion in important international documents, the five principles have been widely recognised and observed by the international community and have made indelible historic contributions to the cause of human progress.
Throughout the 70 years and more, China has not provoked a conflict or war, or occupied a single inch of foreign land.
At present, China is working to build a great modern socialist country in all respects and achieve national rejuvenation through the Chinese path to modernisation. On this new journey, we will continue to champion the five principles of peaceful coexistence, work with all countries to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and make new and greater contributions to safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.
China has always supported peace and development in Africa. Last month, the Senior Officials Meeting of the Second Horn of Africa Peace Conference was convened in Beijing. Senior officials from the foreign affairs departments of countries in the Horn of Africa, including Kenya, attended the meeting, whose focus is to help turn the Horn into a region of peace, cooperation, development and prosperity.
The next meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) will be held in Beijing this autumn. Chinese and African leaders will gather in Beijing again after six years.
We look forward to joining hands with African countries to hold a successful FOCAC summit and make a new contribution to advancing modernisation and building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.
Dr Zhou Pingjian is the Chinese Ambassador to Kenya
