Strong leadership critical to China's prosperity, ambassador says

The strong, visionary leadership of the Communist Party of China is critical and indispensable to China's historic achievements over the past decades, said a foreign diplomat.

James Kimonyo, Rwanda's ambassador to China, arrived in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Later in 2020, the Chinese government was able to bring COVID-19 under control and people could go back to work.

"That's one area that shows how effective the government and the leadership of the CPC are in dealing with such an issue of the magnitude that we have never seen before, saving lives with a very effective government system, and we are all safe here," he said.

The past 20 years have seen China's rapid economic growth, with its GDP jumping from $1.08 trillion in 2000 to $15.42 trillion in 2020. Kimonyo said the achievement is "incredible".

"When you look at the trajectory that this country took ever since the creation of the Party and what the Party has done to transform this country, the lives of the people of this country, it's just incredible," he said. "It is not only about economic growth; it's also about the improved livelihoods. The lives of people changed."

Despite the pandemic in 2020, China declared the end of poverty that same year. And that is 10 years ahead of the United Nations' plan to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Kimonyo said there is one important element that makes things happen－a strong and visionary leadership.

"Leadership is critical for any society to be transformed successfully. So, whether it is about technology advancement, whether it's infrastructure, education or health, whatever you see that China has done is thanks to the vision and leadership of CPC, and of course, the resilient and hardworking people of this great nation," he said.

When he came to China in 2019, Kimonyo said he began to read Chinese President Xi Jinping's books.

He was impressed by the metaphor "let a weak hatchling bird be the first to fly", which he read in a book relating to the discourses on poverty alleviation by Xi.

"When you read the books written by President Xi, that's when you see the thinking behind the miracle of this country. That's when I know why China was able to fly quicker and become the second-largest economy," he said.

In regard to bilateral relations between China and Rwanda, the envoy said the bond between the two countries has grown even stronger in the past decades.

"I should say that our relations continue to grow even stronger given what our two countries have done in the past five decades," he said.

The ambassador also called to strengthen bilateral ties under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, taking the relationship to a higher level.

"China wants win-win cooperation to achieve prosperity for the entire humanity, to the shared future," Kimonyo said.

"So we are very excited about it and we want to continue building. We can take it to another level."