Xi stresses China, Africa always a community with shared future

China and Africa have always been a community with a shared future, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed on Tuesday in a reply letter to scholars from 50 African countries.

In the letter, Xi noted that the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) was successfully held not long ago, sounding the clarion call of the times for further deepening reforms and embracing broader horizons of Chinese modernization.

China, committed to peaceful development and steadfast in pursuit of reform and opening up, will continue to grow and thrive, which will inevitably further strengthen the forces of world peace and international justice, and inject an inexhaustible source of motivation into global modernization, particularly contributing to the development and revitalization of the Global South, Xi stressed.

He noted that in the face of a volatile and intertwined world situation, China and Africa need to strengthen solidarity and cooperation more than ever before.

A new summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is about to take place, where leaders from China and Africa will once again gather to discuss major plans for China-Africa cooperation and to open up even more promising prospects for China-Africa relations, Xi said.

Xi expressed his expectations for the scholars to increase research and exploration of the development paths of Global South countries, as well as China-Africa and South-South cooperation, based on the Dar es Salaam Consensus that was reached by Chinese and African scholars at the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum in March this year.

He encouraged the scholars to continue to provide intelligence support for building a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future, and safeguarding the common interests of the Global South.

Gert Johannes Grobler, former senior diplomat of South Africa and honorary professor at Zhejiang Normal University's Institute of African Studies, along with 63 scholars from 50 African countries, sent a letter to President Xi lately.

In the letter, they warmly congratulated on the successful convening of the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, highly applauded the historic achievements of the FOCAC, and expressed their anticipation that the upcoming summit of the forum will write a new chapter in building a China-Africa community with a shared future and advancing the modernization of the Global South.

Xi stresses China, Africa always a community with shared future

Xi stresses China, Africa always a community with shared future

Smoke from wildfires shrouding over many parts of Mato Grosso, the most severely impacted state by wildfires in Brazil, has caused discomfort among local residents as it persists due to prolonged heatwave.

According to statistics from the National Institute for Space Research, as of Friday, Brazil had recorded over 180,000 wildfires in 2024, with nearly 40,000 of them occurring in Mato Grosso state, ranking it first among all the states in Brazil.

Residents of Cuiaba, the capital of Mato Grosso, said while high temperatures and dry weather were typical in the city in previous years, the prolonged heatwave coupled with smoke this year is highly unusual.

"The smoke is worsening. The situation has been very dire over the past two months. We have not had rain for over 100 days. Low humidity, below 10 percent, is a huge problem, necessitating extensive use of humidifiers for us," said Guilherme Rodrigues Mendes, a resident.

"The weather is quite bad. I feel terrible. I have been sick at least three times. My throat is extremely dry, leading to coughing and feeling nauseous," said Navai, another resident.

According to the local fire department, 1,000 firefighters are battling fires across multiple locations in Mato Grosso. The state encompasses three vital biomes -- the Amazon rainforest, the Cerrado savannah, and the Pantanal wetlands. Currently, the fires in the Pantanal wetlands are largely contained, yet numerous active fire points persist in the Amazon rainforest and Cerrado savannah.

Wildfire smoke in Brazil's Mato Grosso state causes discomfort among locals