Train drivers Jiang Liping (R) and Bor wave aboard a train to Mombasa at Nairobi Terminus Station of the China built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, Kenya, May 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Guang)
The robust partnership between China and Africa has set a positive example for South-South cooperation and played an active role in advancing a fairer and more inclusive global governance system, a Kenyan expert has said.
NAIROBI, Nov. 14 (Xinhua) -- The robust partnership between China and Africa has set a positive example for South-South cooperation and played an active role in advancing a fairer and more inclusive global governance system, a Kenyan expert has said.
"Our current world is very uncertain... We can create a community where all feel that this is our world together," Peter Kagwanja, president and chief executive of the Africa Policy Institute, an independent African think tank based in Nairobi, Kenya's capital, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
He noted that the existing international governance order remains unjust and in need of reform, adding, "strengthening cooperation within the framework of the Global Governance Initiative (GGI) is the way to bring about change."
Kagwanja described the GGI as "a global public good provided by China" to help the world move beyond unilateralism and hegemonism, address biased leadership, and build a fair, just, and prosperous future amid current turbulence and uncertainty.
Chinese engineer Chen Jun (rear) guides Kenyan locomotive inspector Dirksen at the locomotive operation and maintenance yard of Africa Star Railway Operation Company Limited (Afristar) in Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 19, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Guang)
Under the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China and African countries have deepened collaboration on key development issues, Kagwanja said, noting that "development is the path to peace and the surest path to having sustainable peace. And supporting development, essentially, is peace-building in a big way, and China has done its part."
He stressed that China practices what he called "quiet, helpful, and useful diplomacy," rather than "megaphone diplomacy," helping countries such as South Sudan and Somalia resolve conflicts that might otherwise cost millions of lives.
"Peaceful development means that we need to work together and work to enrich everyone. It must be a win-win situation. And our voice, both as countries and as citizens, as scholars, is very critical for realizing that world that we envisage," Kagwanja added.
Damaris Mutinda and Feng Xudong, head of the transportation and dispatch department in Africa Star Railway Operation Company, the operator of the China-built Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), check the work log at the Kenya Railways Dispatch Center of the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR in Nairobi, Kenya, Sept. 30, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Guang)
Citing the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway and the Nairobi Expressway landmark projects that have significantly improved local livelihoods, he said these infrastructure projects stand as vivid examples of China-Africa cooperation.
Over the past 25 years, Chinese companies have built or upgraded more than 10,000 km of railways, nearly 100,000 km of highways, 1,000 bridges, 100 ports, and 66,000 km of power transmission and distribution lines, creating arteries of connectivity across the African continent.
From opposing colonialism and apartheid to joining hands in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and promoting peace and development, Kagwanja noted that China has always stood side by side with Africa, showing the sense of responsibility of a major country.
The collaboration and partnership between Africa and China, which has stood the test of time and proven to be effective, sets a model for cooperation across the Global South and beyond, said Kagwanja.
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