Liu Guijin, former Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe and South Africa and the Chinese government's first special representative on African affairs, has seen his diplomatic career closely integrated with the continent.

Born in 1945, Liu has been working on African affairs for nearly 40 years. He has become well known for advocating China-Africa friendship and cooperation and helping found the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

He recently received the July 1 Medal, along with 28 other outstanding members of the Communist Party of China.

During his 17 years of work on the continent, he visited 52 of its 54 countries. The other two had yet to establish diplomatic relations with China.

"When I set foot on the land of Africa and started working on African affairs, I fell in love with this continent and this fertile land," he said. "From then on, I never gave up work related to Africa."

Reminiscing about his interactions with South African leaders, Liu said he helped arrange a telephone conversation between Nelson Mandela, founding father of the new South Africa, and then Chinese president Jiang Zemin in 2002.

After the phone call, Mandela chatted with Liu for a while, talking about his special feelings for the revolution in China.

Liu said he was impressed when Mandela told him that when he was in prison on Robben Island in Cape Town, he had folded paper from a cigarette pack into the shape of China's five-star, red national flag to celebrate China's National Day.

"Generations of revolutionary pioneers and leaders from both sides have jointly nurtured, forged, and developed the China-Africa friendship together, and that's why the friendship is so deeply rooted in people's hearts," Liu said.

In May 2007, China announced that Liu would become its first special representative on African affairs. His mission started by focusing on the conflict in Darfur, Sudan.

While they discredited attacks by Western countries and the media against China on the issue, African countries and local media welcomed China's impartial efforts, as represented by Liu, in mediating peace.

"Indeed, Chinese leadership and media… have instead firmly stood in the face of pressures put on them because they are fully aware of Western attempts to capitalize on the African problem to pass its own agendas, which have not changed since the colonial era," Sudan Vision, the largest English-language daily newspaper in Sudan, said in an editorial in 2008 on the day Liu arrived in the African nation on a four-day visit.

Observing the ever-changing political landscape around the globe, Liu said: "Today's world requires greater efforts from Chinese diplomats. In the world today, we can see some disorder and chaos in many parts of the globe, especially the impulses agitating trade protectionism and unilateralism."

Meanwhile, "China's diplomacy is closely linked with the country's development and progress", he said.

Beijing has set a grand goal of building a community with a shared future for mankind, and it has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which has been widely acclaimed and is beneficial to the international community, Liu said.

"The task of China's diplomacy is more arduous, and the challenges are mounting, but our goals should also be more ambitious," he added.

Liu also shared his expectations for the Chinese diplomats of a younger generation.

"You should develop a firm (political) stand, a broad vision, a great spectrum of knowledge and excellent abilities. Only in this way can you accomplish major missions," he said.