By Lawal Sale
Here are some few facts you should know about this global south country and a world super power.
DID YOU KNOW…
– that China has more than 5000 year civilization and became a People’s Republic on 1st October 1949.
– that there is only one China which is “People’s Republic of China” with its capital in Beijing, while Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan are also part of China.
– that the ruling party in China is Communist Party of China with President Xi Jinping as it’s General Secretary and Chairman of the Central Military Command.
– that China is diverse. It has 56 ethnic groups in 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities and 2 administrative regions. Han ethnic nationality is the largest.
– that China has a significant large population of more than 1.3 billion people.
– that it is the second largest economy in the world with total GDP of over $19 trillion.
– that it is the largest world’s manufacturing hub with about 30% of all goods from textiles, machineries, electronics, solar panels/batteries, electric vehicles originating from the country.
– that China is a member of many international organizations including the UN, WHO, IMF, World Bank, WTO, FAO, G20, UNDP, UNICEF, ICAO as well as regional organizations such as ASEAN, APEC, SCO, BRI, BRICS, FOCAC, GCC and others.
– that it is the only country in the world that lifted 800 million people out of extreme poverty and made significant contributions to global poverty reduction.
– that China’s Guangdong province alone has a GDP of over $2 trillion surpassing that of South Korea.
– that China’s high-speed railway (HSR) is the longest in the world with a cumulative length of over 45,000 kilometers, connecting 550 cities, towns and villages reaching speed of up to 350 kmph.
– that China is one of the leading countries with longest road network totaling about 5 million kilometres of motorable highway.
– that it is the no.1 electricity generating country in the world contributing 30% of the global electricity with an estimated 9.366 TWh (terawatt-hours of electricity).
– that by the end of 2024, China had completed 95,000 reservoirs, 200 large and medium-sized water diversion projects, 6,924 large and medium-sized irrigation districts, and 318,000 kilometers of dikes, forming the world’s largest and most comprehensive water conservancy infrastructure system.
– that China is one of the top contributors in peacekeeping around the world providing the largest financial contribution and sends more troops among the UN Security Council permanent members.
– that through it’s laudable human capacity development programs, China had over the years offered scholarships, sponsored and conducted seminars, workshops, conferences and training of hundreds of thousands of personnel from the developing countries.
– that China has more than 1 billion internet users representing about 80% penetration making it the largest internet user in the world.
– that it is the global leader in 5G innovation with over 4.39 million base stations spread in most cities, towns and villages. It is also leading in AI and robotics innovation.
– that China has the world’s longest sea bridge – the 55 km Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. This mega project combines bridges, an undersea tunnel, and artificial islands. It cuts travel time between the three cities from 3 hours to just 30 minutes.
– that China’s three Gorges dams are the largest in the world with the capacity of generating more than 22, 500 MW of clean energy.
– that China has the most car brands and manufacturers in the world especially in EVs.
– that it also produces more cars than any other country in the world (over 30 million per year.
– that there are over 100 active car brands and hundreds of manufacturers in China, including state-owned (e.g., SAIC, FAW, Dongfeng, BAIC) and private (e.g., GAC, BYD, Geely, Great Wall, NIO, XPeng, Xiaomi, Li Auto).
ON CHINA-NIGERIA RELATIONS:
It may also interest you to know…
– that the two countries celebrate independence day and day founding on the same day (October 1st) of every year. Nigeria got it’s independence on October 1st 1960 while People’s Republic of China was founded in October 1st 1949.
– that the two countries in former established diplomatic relations in February 1971.
– that Nigeria’s One-China policy is unwavering and that based on UN’s resolution 2758, Taiwan is regarded as an inseparable part of China.
– that Nigeria is China’s largest engineering contracting partner of China, the second largest export market, third largest trading partner and an important investment destination for China.
– that Nigeria-China relations was upgraded to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the 2023 Forum On China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting in Beijing by President Xi Jinping and Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
– that during the FOCAC meeting of the two leaders, 13 cooperation agreements were signed between government departments of the two nations.
– that Nigeria and China are both active members of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), FOCAC and BRICS+ respectively.
– that Nigeria supports China’s vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity and President Xi’s Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI), Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) and the just unveiled Global Governance Initiative (GGI) with it’s 5 concepts.
– that over the years, under the bilateral cooperation between the two countries, there were significant success in terms of infrastructure development in Nigeria with the support of China in projects such as Lekki deep sea-port, Abuja-Kaduna SGR, Lagos-Ibadan SGR, Abuja mono-rail, Abuja water treatment plant project, Keffi-Lafia-Makurdi expressway, Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Enugu and Port Harcourt airport terminals among other developmental projects.
– that China supports Nigeria’s bid for UN Security Council permanent seat, G20 and permanent membership of BRICS+.
— Sale is Abuja based Global Affairs Analyst.
