China’s President, Xi Jinping, is hosting the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a three-day summit this week. The meeting has attracted several African leaders who have thronged to Beijing to hear what the Chinese leader has to say.
Several key African leaders including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Nigeria’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu are in attendance at the summit that is taking place between September 4th and September 6th.
This is the first high-level engagement between China and Africa since COVID-19 hit China in late 2019. The summit takes place six years after the last one took place. The event is aiming at “deepening political and economic ties between China and African nations.”
As Beijing welcomes African leaders with great ceremonial fanfare, the upcoming forum is poised to be the largest assembly of African leaders outside of the African Union. The US held a similar event last year where the Biden administration pledged $55B to the continent leaders.
China’s engagement and interest in Africa is prominently demonstrated through its substantial investments in the continent’s infrastructure development in which it has spent billions of dollars. Through various initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has played a crucial role in enhancing and modernizing infrastructure across the continent.
The construction of roads, bridges, railways, and other essential facilities has expedited transportation and improved communication networks in numerous African nations.
Approximately 50 countries, spanning from Djibouti in the northeast part of the continent to the most populous country in the continent, Nigeria, in West Africa, and Angola in the south have benefitted from Chinese largesse. This has led the countries to experience rapid infrastructure advancements supported by Chinese loans. These new projects include electricity installations, seaports, airports, highways, and water supply stations.
Western countries have criticized China of recklessly lending African nations money they can’t be able to pay back effectively trapping them in a debt trap. China has denied the accusation terming the Western accusations as malicious and unfounded. China has insisted it is focused on sustainable development instead of the extraction of resources alone.
Eswatini (once known as Swaziland) is missing from the summit since it maintains ties with the Republic of China which is commonly known as Taiwan, a large island off the coast of China known for its electronics industry.
China has insisted on the One China Policy and it views Taiwan as a breakaway province rather than an independent country. Therefore China does not recognize countries that maintain ties with Taiwan viewing such countries in violation of the One China Policy and therefore excluding them from its largesse. Saint Kitts and Nevis are among the few countries in the world that enjoy full diplomatic relations with the island nation. China has vowed to reunify the island with the mainland.
China’s involvement in Africa exceeds more than just infrastructure; it significantly extends vital sectors, particularly healthcare in which the Asian nation has sought to play a leading role. The Chinese government has been heavily involved in enhancing healthcare facilities and responding to epidemics throughout the continent.
This assistance has been essential in raising health standards in numerous areas which are usually cut off from major towns in Africa. The support provided by China to African nations during the COVID-19 pandemic was also an example of soft power diplomacy that China engaged in.
Trade between China and Africa has also reached unprecedented levels, establishing China as Africa’s largest trading partner replacin the European Union and USA. In the first seven months of 2024, China’s imports and exports to Africa totaled 1.19 trillion yuan (approximately $167 billion), reflecting a year-on-year increase of 5.5 percent.
The establishment of a free trade agreement among African nations is also likely to enhance the sustainability of trade relations between China and Africa. As China positions itself as a long-term partner and friend to Africa, Western nations remain skeptical of China’s intentions in the continent.
Sources: Prnewswire, allAfrica.com, Wikipedia.