‘Across Mountains and Seas, Shared Prosperity in the Digital and Intelligent Age’
China-Africa Publishing Association launched to deepen knowledge exchange, cultural understanding and cooperation in the digital and intelligent age
By Kirtan Bhana | The Diplomatic Society
25 September 2026
A Season of Reunion and Shared Understanding
The launch of the China-Africa Publishing Association takes place at a particularly meaningful time in the Chinese cultural calendar, around the Mid-Autumn Festival, a traditional celebration associated with reunion, family, gratitude and the sharing of the full moon.
The image of the moon shining across great distances carries a resonance that extends naturally to China-Africa relations. Although separated by geography, different languages and distinct cultural histories, people can find common ground through the exchange of knowledge, culture and ideas.
In this sense, the launch of the China-Africa Publishing Association is itself an expression of connection: bringing together publishing and cultural institutions from China and Africa to build new pathways for mutual understanding and people-to-people exchange.
The symbolism is particularly appropriate in 2026, the 70th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between China and Africa and the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. At a time when digital technology can connect people instantaneously across continents, the deeper task remains one of understanding one another.
The Mid-Autumn Festival reminds us that distance need not prevent connection. The new Association seeks to give that principle a practical expression through publishing—using the written word, knowledge, culture and increasingly digital technologies to bring people and civilizations closer together.
The relationship between China and Africa is increasingly being expressed through the exchange of ideas, knowledge and culture. In an age in which digital technologies and artificial intelligence are transforming how societies communicate and understand one another, the ability to share knowledge across linguistic, cultural and geographic boundaries has become an important dimension of international relations.
The launch of the China-Africa Publishing Association in Jinan represents a significant development in China-Africa people-to-people exchanges. The Association brings together publishing and cultural institutions from China and Africa with the stated objective of creating more regularised and institutionalised cooperation in publishing, knowledge sharing and cultural exchange.
The initiative is particularly significant in 2026, which marks the 70th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between China and Africa, as well as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges. Its establishment is also linked to the implementation of the Beijing Action Plan of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (2025-2027) and the Global Civilization Initiative.
The Association's founding membership includes 49 representative publishing and cultural institutions and organisations from China and 32 from 19 African countries, establishing a broad platform for cooperation. Importantly, its working approach is based on consultation on an equal footing and two-way exchange.
At the launch, Ms. Wang Fang, Secretary of the CPC Committee of FLTRP Group, Chair of the Board of FLTRP Group and President of FLTRP, outlined a vision in which publishing becomes more than the production and distribution of books and other content. It can serve as a means of preserving civilizational memory, producing knowledge, building understanding and creating connections between societies.
Her address, Across Mountains and Seas, Shared Prosperity in the Digital and Intelligent Age, sets out three principal areas through which the new Association intends to advance China-Africa publishing cooperation: mutual learning among civilizations, industry collaboration, and digital and intelligent innovation.
Speech by Ms. Wang Fang
Distinguished Leaders,
Colleagues from the Chinese and African Publishing Communities,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning!
Today, we gather in Jinan to jointly witness the official launch of the China-Africa Publishing Association.
This is a major event for the publishing communities of China and Africa. It marks an important step in advancing China-Africa publishing cooperation towards institutionalised and regularised development. It is also a positive endeavour by Chinese and African publishers to deepen exchange and mutual learning among civilizations and to promote knowledge sharing.
On behalf of FLTRP, and as the lead institution for the preparatory work of the Association, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the leaders and guests attending this conference.
I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to the International Communication Bureau of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee for its careful guidance, and to all our Chinese and African partners for their dedicated efforts in preparing for the establishment of the Association.
A significant year for China-Africa relations
The year 2026 marks the 70th anniversary of the start of diplomatic relations between China and Africa, as well as the China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges.
At this significant historical juncture, and in order to implement the Beijing Action Plan of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (2025-2027) and act on the Global Civilization Initiative, Chinese and African publishing institutions have jointly initiated this Association under the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.
The Association brings together, in its founding membership, 49 representative publishing and cultural institutions and organisations from China and 32 from 19 African countries, giving it broad representation.
Consultation on an equal footing and two-way exchange are the working approaches established by the Association from its very inception.
Publishing is more than a vehicle for producing and disseminating content. It is also a vital force in building knowledge systems, preserving civilizational memory and forming social consensus.
Today, digital and intelligent technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, are profoundly transforming how knowledge is produced, content is communicated and culture is exchanged.
China-Africa publishing cooperation must therefore also evolve—from relying primarily on individual projects, one-way output and traditional copyright trade towards more stable mechanisms, deeper co-creation and broader collaboration in capacity building.
Against this backdrop, the key to the China-Africa Publishing Association lies in uniting three sources of strength.
First: The strength of mutual learning among civilizations
Both Chinese and African civilizations have long historical traditions and rich cultural resources.
Publishing not only records and passes on civilizations, but also participates in knowledge production and promotes exchanges among civilizations. It provides an important medium for mutual understanding and mutual appreciation.
The Association will therefore, first and foremost, promote the two-way flow of knowledge and cultural achievements between China and Africa.
On the one hand, the Association will bring more of China's finest publications closer to African readers.
In fields such as China's governance experience, literature and the arts, science, technology and education, and the humanities and social sciences, we will strengthen title development, translation and publication, and localised dissemination. The objective is to ensure that quality content is communicated effectively in ways better suited to African readers' reading habits and cultural contexts.
On the other hand, the Association will actively identify and introduce outstanding African works, presenting Africa's rich history and culture, its literature and arts, and its contemporary development achievements to Chinese readers.
This will enable Chinese society to gain a fuller and deeper understanding of Africa.
At the same time, the Association will organise people-to-people exchange activities and sessions for sharing governance experience, extending publishing cooperation from the exchange of works to the exchange of ideas, knowledge and civilizations.
In this way, publishing can become an important bridge for closer mutual understanding and affinity between the Chinese and African peoples.
Second: The strength of industry collaboration
The value of the Association lies not only in delivering individual projects, but even more in helping the publishing industries of China and Africa develop a more open, stable and sustainable ecosystem of cooperation.
To this end, the Association will first strengthen communication among its members.
We will establish a liaison network and an information-sharing mechanism for Chinese and African publishing institutions, and encourage regular exchanges and mutual visits among publishing houses, industry organisations, experts and scholars, and publishing professionals.
This will promote resource sharing, the exchange of experience and the complementing of each other's strengths.
On this basis, the Association will focus on areas of common concern to both sides and deepen cooperation in copyright trade, co-publishing, joint content creation, channel expansion and digital publishing.
We will explore cooperation models suited to the realities of publishing development in China and Africa, giving full play to the respective strengths of Chinese and African publishers in content resources, language services, market channels and professional capabilities.
The objective is to promote the two-way flow of quality publishing resources.
The Association will also continue to build platforms for professional exchange.
Forums, training programmes and seminars will address subjects including publishing development trends, international communication, and digital and intelligent transformation and upgrading.
Through these activities, the Association will advance experience sharing and capacity building, helping member institutions move from initial acquaintance towards long-term cooperation.
It is our hope that, through one exchange visit after another and one cooperation project after another, the Association will become a key platform for the Chinese and African publishing communities to strengthen exchange and cooperation, build industry consensus and promote common development.
The ultimate objective is that the fruits of cooperation genuinely benefit the publishing industries and readers of both sides.
Third: The strength of digital and intelligent innovation
Today, digital and intelligent technologies, represented by artificial intelligence, are profoundly reshaping the ways in which publishing produces, disseminates and delivers its services.
They are bringing new opportunities for innovation and development to the global publishing industry.
The Association will therefore take digital and intelligent development as an important direction for advancing innovation in publishing and enhancing the capacity for cultural communication.
Together, we will explore paths of innovation suited to the development stages and actual needs of both sides.
In areas such as digital publishing, the application of artificial intelligence, multilingual content production, and data and platform development, the Association will strengthen experience sharing, joint research and project cooperation.
This will help member institutions enhance their capabilities in digital and intelligent publishing.
At the same time, the Association will attach importance to combining digital technologies with local cultural resources.
We will support African member institutions in using new technologies for content production, language preservation and knowledge dissemination.
Digital technologies can become a powerful tool for protecting cultural diversity and promoting knowledge sharing, enabling more cultural resources with distinctive local character to be preserved, disseminated and shared through digital means.
The Association will likewise sustain its work on professional exchange and talent development, sharing know-how and strengthening capabilities in order to cultivate more professionals for China-Africa publishing cooperation.
These professionals will need to be familiar with each other's cultures, well versed in international publishing rules and equipped with digital and intelligent skills.
The advance of digital and intelligent technologies has opened up new space for China-Africa publishing cooperation.
The Association will draw together the professional strengths of all its member institutions and strengthen capacity building, so that these technologies can better serve the common development of the Chinese and African publishing industries.
From a launch to a long-term partnership
As the secretariat of the Association, FLTRP will faithfully fulfil its duties of coordination and service.
We will undertake member liaison, resource integration, project coordination and institutional support, ensuring that the Association operates in a well-regulated manner and collaborates with high efficiency.
We are keenly aware that the establishment of the Association is only a starting point.
Its true value lies in turning our shared vision into practical action, our members' strengths into tangible results of cooperation, and a moment of gathering into a long journey together.
Working together with all members, we will put in place and run our communication mechanisms well, press ahead with cooperation projects, build platforms for exchange and train professional talent.
We will strive to ensure that the Association takes action every year, that every project is followed through, and that our cooperation resonates widely.
As an ancient Chinese saying goes:
“Though separated by mountains and seas, those who share the same aspirations feel no distance; though civilizations are diverse, those whose hearts are connected naturally come to understand each other.”
Let us take the Association as a bond and publishing as a bridge, with equality and mutual trust as our foundation, and openness and innovation as our direction.
Let us jointly move China-Africa publishing cooperation to greater depth and substance, write a new chapter in the exchange and mutual learning between Chinese and African civilizations, and inject deeper and more enduring cultural strength into building an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.
Thank you.
TDS perspective - For The Diplomatic Society, the significance of this initiative extends the ability of societies to understand one another increasingly depends upon who produces knowledge, how that knowledge is translated and distributed, and whether communication is a two-way process.
The China-Africa Publishing Association therefore arrives at an important moment. Digital communication has dramatically reduced the physical distance between continents, while artificial intelligence is accelerating the production and circulation of information. Yet technological proximity does not automatically produce cultural understanding. The challenge and opportunity is to use these technologies to strengthen the human connections, knowledge exchange and mutual understanding that underpin meaningful relations between societies.
In this context, publishing becomes part of the broader architecture of people-to-people diplomacy. Books, journalism, research, literature, education, language and digital content can create pathways through which Africans encounter China and Chinese audiences encounter Africa through a greater exchange of each other's experiences, histories, cultures and contemporary realities.
The Association's emphasis on two-way exchange, co-creation, translation, digital innovation and capacity building reflects this broader movement towards a more connected China-Africa relationship.