Another opportunity to strengthen Ghana-China ties
Relations between Ghana and China which began in the immediate post-independent era have blossomed to the admiration of the peoples of both countries.
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Our first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, quite understandably, took our engagements with China to greater heights because the two countries, at that time, pursued a socialist agenda.
Even during the military interregnum in our body politic, Ghana did not sever diplomatic ties with China, and during the Acheampong regime, for instance, the Chinese government supported the regime’s Operation Feed Yourself programme.
Time and again, the Chinese government has acknowledged the support Ghana extended to it during its efforts to become a member of the UN Security Council in the 1970s.
Tomorrow, Mr Yu Zhengsheng, the Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress, will pay a four-day visit to Ghana, at the invitation of the Speaker of Parliament, Mr Edward Doe Adjaho.
The expectation is that the visit, which is the first one by a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee to Ghana in the past nine years and the third leg of Chairman Yu’s three-nation African tour, will open a new chapter in Sino-Ghana relations.
Ghana and China have always supported each other on issues concerning their core and major interest, keeping close co-operation in the international and regional arenas, with a focus on South-South co-operation.
China is one of the largest trading partners of Ghana, with China-Ghana trade volumes hitting $6.6 billion in 2015.
China has supported Ghana to undertake a number of projects. The list includes the National Theatre, the Foreign Affairs and Defence ministries complexes, the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, the Cape Coast Sports Stadium, the Atuabo Gas project, the Bui Dam, the Kpong Water Supply Expansion Project and the Sunon Asogli Power Plant.
There are many Chinese businesses offering jobs to the teeming youth, thereby helping to develop Ghana’s economy.
Ghanaian businessmen and women also travel to China to buy finished products and raw materials for the manufacturing sector.
Ghanaian students are also in Chinese universities pursuing all manner of programmes, including science, technology and medicine.
Also, the decision of Asamoah Gyan, the skipper of the Black Stars, to play football in China has opened a new phase of the growing ties between Ghana and China.
In terms of the exchanges, there is a lot Ghana can learn from China as the second largest economy in the world, especially at a time that Ghana is classified as one of the fastest growing economies of the world.
Be that as it may, there is a low side in our relations that the two countries must try to mend — the growing presence of Chinese in the ‘galamsey’ business that is killing Ghana’s water bodies and degrading the environment, thereby threatening the source of livelihood of the people.
It is for this reason that the Daily Graphic shares in the sentiments of the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Madam Sun Baohong, contained in the concluding part of an article: “Let’s pool our efforts, share weal and woe in the way ahead and usher China-Ghana relations into a new era of win-win co-operation and common development.”
In the spirit of Ghanaian hospitality, the Daily Graphic says a big Akwaaba to Chairman Yu on the occasion of his historic visit to Ghana.
Enjoy the proverbial Ghanaian warmth and hospitality, Chairman Yu, when set foot on Ghanaian soil tomorrow.