China's commitment to shared prosperity brings connectivity, friendship: former Ethiopian president

Mulatu Teshome, former president of Ethiopia, highlighted on Tuesday how China's globally inclusive approach to development has benefited Ethiopia's connectivity and pathway to prosperity.

In an interview with Global Television Network, Teshome discussed the 2024 Understanding China Conference that kicked off in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, on Tuesday. The statesman said the event's significance is articulated in its focal point -- Chinese modernization and new opportunities for the world.

"When China is talking about modernization, it's talking about the inclusiveness of the world, committed to prosper together, to grow together, to modernize together. And there is a very good developmental philosophy which has as got a very good connotation in President Xi Jinping's address. According to him, 'China looks forward to working with all other countries to create an enabling environment and conditions for development, tackling the many difficulties and challenges and facilitating the modernization of all countries, featuring peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity, in a bid to write a new chapter to building a community with a shared future for mankind.' It is very important," said the former Ethiopian president.

At this year's G20 summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the country's eight actions for promoting global development, with boosting high-quality Belt and Road Cooperation and supporting the development of Africa at the top of the agenda.

According to Teshome, his country and others in Africa have benefited from infrastructure projects under these cooperative initiatives, particularly the Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway.

"The key project, which is a showcase, is a railway project which was built from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. And not only that, the BRI is about connectivity, connecting China to other countries. Another good example is the Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian Airlines flies every day to Guangzhou City, to Beijing, to several other cities in China. That connectivity really is not only about physical buildings of roads or railways. It has got a very deep meaning of friendship, the sentimental attachment between Africans and Chinese," he said.

China's commitment to shared prosperity brings connectivity, friendship: former Ethiopian president

The government's frequent rollout of favorable housing policies in south China's economically developed Guangdong Province, including the tech hub of Shenzhen, has sparked a surge in activity across the province, with Shenzhen's second-hand home sales hitting a four-year high in November, and with home buyers in the provincial capital city of Guangzhou enjoying significant savings under new tax measures.

In Shenzhen, enhanced housing incentives, including increased housing provident fund loan limits, have lowered barriers for home purchase and injected vigor and vitality into the housing market.

A local real estate agency reported a two-fold increase in inquiries, visits and transactions since late September when the flurry of policies, including reduced mortgage rates and minimum down payment ratios, were rolled out.

Official data from the Shenzhen Housing and Construction Bureau showed that 7,356 resale homes were sold in November, marking the highest volume in nearly 46 months.

"The frequent release of robust policy measures has reduced transaction costs, restored buyer confidence and brought prices closer to the expectations of home buyers. This has significantly improved market sentiment and boosted purchasing confidence," said Tang Lixia, a member of the Shenzhen Real Estate Intermediary Association.

Meanwhile, Guangzhou's home buyers are benefiting from a new deed tax policy that went into effect on December 1.

Under the policy, buyers of homes measuring no more than 140 square meters per unit can now pay a reduced tax rate of 1 percent, down from 3 percent.

"It saved me 120,000 yuan (16,510 U.S. dollars). I'm so happy. It's like saving the price of a car," said a buyer in the city's Tianhe District.

South China's Guangdong sees surge in home sales thanks to favorable policies