What I have put here as the title is what President Isaias Afwerki said in an interview with China Business Weekly Magazine in 2007, talking about Chinese and Eritrean relations and with particular reference to what Chinese investors see when they look at Eritrea.

Indeed, Sino-Eritrean relationship goes far beyond what appears on the surface.

Eritrea and China’s friendly relationship dates back to 1993. China was in fact the first country to establish diplomatic relations with sovereign Eritrea in May 1993, and it has been contributing a great deal to various aspects of the Eritrean endeavors for economic rehabilitation and national reconstruction.

If one cares to look around, a large number of infrastructural programs that bear Chinese contribution are of great significance.

The Orotta National Referral Hospital is only one of many similar Chinese infrastructural accomplishments in Eritrea.

Furthermore, several mining activities have kicked off based on Eritrean partnership with China. Accordingly, two Chinese companies, Beijing Donia Resources Co. and China Geological Engineering Company (CGC), have already secured permission to explore mineral resources including gold, copper, zinc and iron in Eritrea.

The China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, yet another Chinese company, has the permission to develop gas and oil in Eritrea.

The list could go on. The assistance of the Chinese government is not however confined to the economic sector. Agriculture and education are also some of the areas where China has been a leading partner.

“With its united people and very strong leadership, Eritrea has a big potential to catch up and attain a speedy development,” said Mr. Qu Boxun, Political Counselor at the Chinese Embassy here in Asmara.

Saying that both countries share similar history and political features, Mr. Qu added that there is a lot that Eritrea can learn from China.

To that end, four regional administrators and the Minister of Agriculture have visited China in recent times. The aim of that visit was to share and learn from Chinese experience, Mr. Qu noted.

He also said that in an effort to introduce strategic seeds that are compatible with Eritrean soil, China has sent seven experts and agricultural equipment.

As regards the educational sector, 14 lecturers of the University of Asmara were granted scholarships for postgraduate studies in China in 2008.

“Another 38 similar scholarship grants have also been granted this year,” Mr. Qu pointed out. He further said that a teacher has been sent here from the Confucian Institute of Language to give the outgoing grantees Chinese language lessons so as to help them get acquainted with their surroundings when they get to China.

Noteworthy achievement has also been made at the cultural level.

The Chinese embassy has so far organized two Chinese film weeks, and is getting ready for a third one this year. Such events serve as windows for Eritreans to take a glance at Chinese culture, history and lifestyle.

In line with that, various Chinese cultural troupes have organized concerts in Eritrea on several occasions, including the 2008 Eritrean Festival.

The embassy also plans to open a cultural center in the near future, Mr. Qu disclosed.
“Chinese assistance to Eritrea, or for that matter Africa, is probably still very limited as compared to that of the West, but at least it is genuine and selfless,” Mr. Qu explained and said that China and Africa share the same language of partnership.

Beyond assistance programs, China has also begun to explore investment opportunities in Eritrea.

According to an exclusive interview Xinhua had with Mr. Tseggai Tesfatsion, the Eritrean ambassador to China, Eritrea is at present receiving 300 Chinese visitors a year, most of them from the Chinese business community.

"We try to provide a stable and peaceful environment to our visitors," said the ambassador in that interview.

And President Isaias had reiterated in his interview: “Chinese investors may be seeing the tip of the iceberg now, but with time they will definitely learn more about the opportunities for investment in this country; and not only in Eritrea but the whole region as well.”

He went on to say that the investment of Chinese companies in African countries would become one of the driving forces for growth in the economy, and that the China-Eritrea or China-Africa relationship would have a very significant impact for generations to come.

“One of the most important features of Eritrea is that it has no interethnic problems and all its regions’ inhabitants live in harmony” Mr. Qu pointed out and explained that one of China’s most challenging tasks has been to ensure national sovereignty along with all its provinces. And one of these historic tasks, which at a time proved to be a threat to its unity and development, has been the so-called the ‘Tibet issue.’

According to the report released by the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, “Tibet issue” was the outcome of the imperialist attempts to partition China in modern times.’ Similarly, the report states that “…the so-called ‘Tibet issue’ is by no means an ethnic, religious and human rights issue; rather, it is the Western anti-China forces’ attempt to restrain, split, and demonize China.’

Following its foundation in 1949, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), having liberated most provinces from the former Kuomintang government, also sought the peaceful liberation of Tibet, one of its autonomous regions.

Consequently in 1951, after negotiations between the PRC government and the local authorities of Tibet, an agreement was signed liberating Tibet from imperialist forces. The agreement also allowed the local authorities to carry out reforms for Tibetans, which for centuries have been living under feudal serfdom and theocracy.

The Tibet ruling class, including the 14th Dalai Lama, were however hostile to the idea of reform and rejected the proposal. They instead launched a full scale rebellion against the central government in 1959. The PRC government, supported by all the ethnic groups in Tibet, which demanded a democratic reform, suppressed the rebellion.

Following the foiling of the uprising, which was supported by foreign anti-China forces, the Dalai Lama fled to neighboring India where he set up a Tibet government-in-exile, declaring Tibetan independence. And with the help of western media, he has been engaged in international anti-China activities ever since.

Since the democratic reform fifty years ago, tremendous changes have taken place in Tibet, as it experienced a transition from poverty to prosperity and from autocratic rule to democracy. At present, Tibet is in its highest period of development, with rapid economic and social progress, improved living conditions, good governance and its people living in harmony.

As for the Dalai Lama, the PRC government demands that he disband the Tibet government-in-exile and admits that Tibet is an inalienable part of Chinese territory. And in doing so, China keeps its vow to let him return to a patriotic stand at home.

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