Cheng Tao, Former Director of the Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

President Xi will pay his fourth visit to four African countries. His visit will definitely strengthen China-Africa relation and further promote China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperation.

The four African countries share the same colonial history and set the same goal that they determine to explore their own development ways, to make their countries prosperous and strong, and to further promote their cooperation with China.

China and Africa have always been a community of destiny. In the 1950s and 1960s, China strongly supported African countries' national liberation and national independence. Despite poverty and backward development, China made its greatest efforts to aid Africa.

Nowadays, China has become a world power, and China still spares no efforts to promote Africa's development by providing gratuitous aids, interest-free loans as well as concessional loan, encouraging Chinese enterprises to invest in Africa and sharing China's experience in development to help Africa explore its own development way. For another, African countries' leaders also show great determination to learn from China's experience in reforming and opening up so as to revitalize their nations.

In recent years, high-level visits between China and Africa have become frequent and regular, and  experience in governing a state has been exchanged. The "Belt and Road" Initiative has been widely acknowledged by African countries. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Beijing Summit, to be held this year, will open a new era for China-Africa cooperation.

Without historical grudge, ideological confrontation, territorial dispute and cultural conflicts, China and Africa will definitely forge a closer community of common destiny, making great contributions to international community.