Belt and Road cooperation top of agenda at 2024 FOCAC Summit: spokesman

High-quality Belt and Road cooperation will be at the top of the agenda of the 2024 Summit of the Forum On China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

The 2024 Summit of the FOCAC will be held in Beijing from Sept. 4 to 6 with the theme "Joining hands to advance modernization and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future."

African scholars said at the sixth China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum held days ago in Beijing that the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation has played an important role in promoting the connectivity of African countries, and the joint construction of the Belt and Road between Africa and China will strongly promote Africa's sustainable development, economic growth and regional integration.

"Infrastructure construction serves as an important foundation for Africa's development, and achieving connectivity is the common aspiration of the African countries. Over the years, within the frameworks of the FOCAC and the Belt and Road Initiative, China has always followed the principles of sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and the commitment to the greater good and shared interests, and firmly supported African countries in upgrading their infrastructure and connectivity and achieving sustainable development," said Lin.

Lin said the China-built railways such as the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway and the Benguela Railway have significantly improved the transportation efficiency between the coast and the hinterland in the three African countries. The China-built deep seaports such as the Kribi Deep Seaport in Cameroon have brought development opportunities for landlocked African countries. The China-built Kafue Gorge Lower Hydropower Station in Zambia and the Garissa Solar Power Plant in Kenya have eased power shortage in the two African countries.

"Where roads are built, prosperity follows. Over the years, China and African countries have built or upgraded nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, over 10,000 kilometers of railways, about 1,000 bridges and nearly 100 ports via cooperation projects. Chinese companies have helped build more than half of Africa's wireless stations and high-speed mobile broadband networks, serving more than 900 million African people. Now, 52 African countries and the African Union (AU) Commission have signed documents with China on Belt and Road cooperation, aiming to break bottlenecks in their own development. The active participation of African countries is one of the highlights of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation," said the spokesman.

"The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is just around the corner, and the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation will be one of the top agendas of the summit. China is ready to work with Africa to forge ahead on the path of win-win cooperation and common development, align the Belt and Road Initiative with the AU Agenda 2063 and the development strategies of African countries, and continuously enhance the prestige of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation between China and Africa, so as to bring China-Africa connectivity cooperation onto a fast track," he said.

Belt and Road cooperation top of agenda at 2024 FOCAC Summit: spokesman

Refugees in the West Bank city of Jenin are experiencing the same tragic humanitarian crisis as in the Gaza Strip, with no water, electricity, or shelter, and are even facing life-threatening situations after the Israeli army launched targeted attacks against the region.

In 1953, in order to accommodate Palestinians displaced by the first Middle East war, a refugee camp covering an area of ​​less than 0.5 square kilometers was established in the western suburbs of Jenin, where a large number of refugees from all over the occupied territories have since lived.

After decades of development, the camp's tents have turned into buildings that can accommodate nearly 20,000 people. However, the destruction and trauma have never stopped.

During the Israeli military operation in the Jenin refugee camp from Aug. 28 to Sept. 6 this year, 14 local people were killed by the Israeli army, with most of the streets, buildings, and power and water supply networks damaged or destroyed.

In a dire reflection of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, thousands of people were forced to evacuate the camp.

According to refugee Khalid, both the infrastructure and property have been seriously destroyed in Jenin, including his house, which was blown up simply because it was suspected of concealing a tunnel used by hostile forces.

"On the ninth day of the Israeli attack here, an Israeli policeman found us and took us outside. He asked me whether this was my house, I told him yes, and he told me to take my belongings and cell phones and evacuate 50 meters away immediately. My wife and I ran out as fast as we could to my brother's house nearby. This was at 13:00. At 17:00 that day, the Israeli army blew up the house, and that's it. When the situation calmed down, we returned to the house and found it completely destroyed. As you can see, the Israeli army only claimed that they suspected there was a tunnel here, but there was no tunnel in my house," said Khalid.

According to the locals, the Israeli army conducted an investigation after Khalid's home was bombed, but apart from a tunnel previously discovered in the nearby area, the forces did not find the suspected tunnel under Khalid's home.

While trying to map the nearby tunnel, the Israeli troops also forced civilians to help them complete dangerous military tasks, according to locals.

"They brought me here and told me to go into this tunnel. The Israeli officer's name was Captain Musa Abu. When I went into the tunnel, he gave me a drone and told me to take it into the tunnel and show them what was inside. They told me to tell them what the camera was capturing and they were looking at the images on a computer. I told him there were rocks and stones but they were afraid there might be armed men hiding down there," said refugee Muhammad.

"I wasn't too scared, but I was very worried that they would keep me in the tunnel and not let me out. They gave me a drone and I described it to them like this, but I saw nothing. He asked what it was and I told him these were rocks and this was a rock. He saw a big hole here and asked me to point to it and lift the drone to see what was there, but it was just a hole, that's all. Because they were afraid of danger, they brought me here to protect themselves," he said.

Refugees in West Bank suffer tragic humanitarian crisis amid Israeli attacks