Chinese leader promises ‘bumper harvest’ for Africa

‘Blossoms in spring turn into fruit in autumn, and a bumper harvest is the reward of hard work.’ That’s the view of Chinese President Xi Jinping who addressed the eagerly anticipated Forum on Africa-China Co-operation (FOCAC) in Beijing last week. Legalbrief reports that Xi, who pledged over $50bn in financing for Africa over the next three years, promised to deepen co-operation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing's biggest summit since the pandemic. ‘Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11bn ‘in various types of assistance’ as well as $10bn through encouraging Chinese firms to invest. More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres attended the forum. African leaders secured a plethora of deals for greater co-operation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy. Fin24 reports that Xi also promised to help ‘create at least 1m jobs for Africa’. The Chinese leader pledged $141m in grants for military assistance to the continent as well. He said Beijing would ‘provide training for 6 000 military personnel and 1 000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa’. Also addressing the meeting, Guterres told African leaders that growing ties between China and the continent could ‘drive the renewable energy revolution’. ‘China's remarkable record of development – including on eradicating poverty – provides a wealth of experience and expertise,’ he said.

SA President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed Xi’s proposal to raise bilateral relations with African nations to the level of strategic relations as a sign of a common ambition for modernisation, growth and advancement on the African continent. China on Thursday upgraded its ties with African countries to a strategic level, saying this would jointly advance modernisation that is just and equitable, according to BusinessLIVE. Xi also announced 10 modernisation-focused partnership activities between China and Africa, including trade prosperity and industrial chain co-operation. ‘With its future growth in mind, I propose that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations and that the overall characterisation of China-Africa relations be elevated to an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era,’ said Xi. Highlighting that China and Africa accounted for one-third of the world’s population, he asserted that without the modernisation of the two entities, ‘there will be no global modernisation’. China is SA’s largest trading partner, exporting mainly primary goods such as agricultural products and minerals. SA and Chinese diplomatic relations focus on building stronger economic, cultural and political bonds. However, critics of Chinese investment in Africa have raised concerns about debt-trapping, economic dependence and prioritisation of Chinese interests over local needs. Ramaphosa welcomed the proposal by Xi as a catalyst for prosperity while recognising African states’ individual developmental aspirations. He said given the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, where countries are pursuing cross-border trade, Focac could play an important role as Africa works to build an integrated network of linkages between countries, within regions and across the continent.

It was impossible to miss the figurative wind of change as they blew ferociously, notes Abbey Makoe in an IoL analysis. He said Xi summed up the mood of the moment when he said ‘we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with each other to firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests as once-in-a-century changes sweep across the world’. ‘The UN’s Guterres captured it well in his observation, lauding China’s rise in global affairs and attributing the newly-found acquired status of China’s as a catalyst for south-south relations. That statement alone was loaded. At face value, it could be understood to acknowledge China as a magnet of the oftentimes marginalised developing states of the Global South. It is an attribute of great significance, particularly coming from the world’s number one diplomat. The entire Global South stands on the huge shoulders of China today.

SA, the DRC, Mali and numerous other African countries have reiterated their support for China's claim on Taiwan ahead of the forum. Under the One-China policy, China considers Taiwan to be an inalienable part of the Republic of China. While Taiwan continues to defend its independence, it is now only formally recognised on the continent by eSwatini, after having 30 embassies across Africa at one point. Other countries retain economic links. News24 reports that DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, after meeting Xi, said he believed Taiwan was part of China. ‘I wish to reaffirm the DRC's unwavering commitment to the One-China policy by recognising that Taiwan is an integral part of Chinese territory,’ he said. The DRC is at the centre of a tussle between the US and China over access to its extractive sector. Among the understandings noted between Ramaphosa and Xi was that ‘there is but one China in the world; the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’.

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