PRETORIA, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Africa welcomes China's African Policy Paper, which comes timely and will be conducive to peace and development on African continent, senior African specialist John Tesha said here on Thursday.

    Tesha, acting director of the African Institute of South Africa, made the statement while presiding over a briefing on China's African Policy Paper, the first policy paper on Africa ever published by China in Beijing last week.

    He said that the paper summed up what China had done in African in the past six decades and it would consolidate friendly relations between China and African countries.

    "As a South African," he said, "I welcome this document and look forward to close partnership between South Africa and China."

    About 100 specialists, scholars, diplomats and media members from African countries showed their attention to the paper in a meeting co-sponsored by the Chinese Embassy in Pretoria and the African Institute of South Africa.

    Ndumiso Ntshinga, designated South African ambassador to China, told Xinhua that China helped Africa in the struggle against colonialism and in the fight for national independence in the past. But now, he said, "we have many things to do and I want to expand cooperation and exchange between South Africa and China."

    Sainot Leslie Mbula, Zambian ambassador to South Africa, said that Zambia enjoyed close and friendly relations with China in the past 40 years. "China had helped Africans in the struggle against colonialist rule, built railways and done a lot to Africa. What they had done have won our respect."

    Senegal ambassador Samba Buri Mboup said that African countries would like to join hands with China in pushing forward cooperation at all levels "from top to grassroots." Enditem