Although there are many impressions about Liberia’s foreign relations at this time of the 163rd Independence Anniversary of Liberia, the relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of Liberia are of highest and unprecedented significance.

Having served as Liberia’s Minister of Planning and Economic Affairs and Chairman of the African Group of Governors of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), I know that Liberia and other African countries, in general, put out economic plans and requests for assistance on the basis of the priorities of donors. Having emerged freshly out of civil war and experiencing high demands of the people of Liberia for participation in national discussion making to push for justice, the indispensable ingredient for peace, the people continue to make demands for education, food and health as highest priorities.

The people’s insistence and persistence have resulted unprecedentedly in the placement of their demands in national plans and requests for assistance. Breaking the precedence of insistence on the pursuit of donor’s priorities, the People’s Republic of China has not only welcomed the Liberian people’s priorities but has operationalized such spirit of welcome. Putting action in the spirit of China-Liberia relations, the people of Liberia now have the new Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia for education, the new Central Agricultural Research Institute (CARI) for food and the new Tappita Hospital for health. At this 163rd Independence Anniversary of the Republic of Liberia, the China-Liberia marriage has delivered triplets: Fendell, CARI and JFD (The Jackson Fiah Doe Hospital in Tappita).

The people of Liberia now know that it is not how long a marriage lasts that determines the quality or relevance of the marriage, but it is the honesty of sincerity in the marriage that determines its value. It is the honesty in the China-Liberia marriage that has broken the bad precedence of dancing to the piper’s tune and has introduced the good precedence of dancing to the people’s tune. Now, the people of Liberia know the meaning of what Ambassador Zhou Yuxiao said when he reminded all of us that China is not in a relationship with Liberia because China is rich, but because China and Liberia are friends. More than any other testimony to the China-Liberia Friendship is the Friendship Tower at the Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia.

While the former colonial masters of Africa are trying hard to cover their guilty feelings for their roles in the exploitation and underdevelopment of Africa, as manifested concretely in massive poverty, they have resorted to flooding their media outlets with stories of a China that is in Africa only to grab raw materials and send them to China. To these former colonial masters, we say come to Liberia to hear the Chinese Ambassador practically pleading with the Liberian government and people to transform the educational system in Liberia so that educations will “not only advocate for democracy, freedom and human rights, but also for turning Liberia’s extremely rich natural resources into development advantages, namely to turn rubber into sneakers and tires iron into cooking utensils and building materials and timber into high quality furniture as import substitutes.” Certainly, China is working against the colonial and past colonial strategy of the former colonial masters who control Africa economies to produce what they do not consume and consume what they do not produce.

The overriding challenge now in China-Liberia relations remains in the hands of Liberians. China is demonstrating not only good intentions but good practice in the birth of the 163rd Independence Anniversary triplets. China means well and is also acting well not only by working with Liberia’s highest priorities but by indicating preparedness to help Liberia to get out of the mass poverty generating dependency syndrome through the facilitation of educational development that is promotive of the utilization of Liberia’s national resources for Liberia’s industrialization and import substitution where Liberia produces for Liberia’s consumption and Liberia consumes Liberia’s production.