As it prospers, China will not leave Kenya behind

Chinese President Xi Jinping with President Uhuru Kenyatta, when he attended the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. [Courtesy]

As we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), I hail the 56-year-old robust China-Kenya relations. Just as China has come afar, the partnership between the two peoples has overcome many challenges and is headed to even greater prosperity.

Both China and Kenya were subjected to aggression and colonisation by western powers. On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the PRC. During that year, Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding president, was leading the Mau Mau Movement and Kenyan people on the road to national sovereignty. In 1963, when Kenya finally gained independence, China and Kenya established diplomatic relations days later. In 1978, China adopted the reform and opening-up strategy and signed a trade agreement with Kenya.