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Leaders including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya’s William Ruto, and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu assembled in the Chinese capital this week for the three-day forum that Beijing has hailed as its largest diplomatic gathering in years.
Xi Jinping pledged USD 50 billion in financial support for the continent in addition to military aid. Xi separately pledged another USD 280 million in aid to African countries, split evenly between military and food assistance.
While addressing the China -Africa Summit in Beijing, Xi sent vibes to 50 African countries participating in the summit that announcements were signs to demonstrate its commitment to the continent, despite a recent slowdown in its overseas development lending and as Africa struggles with its foreign debt, including those owed to China.
The pledge of USD 140 million in military aid is the largest amount that China has earmarked for this purpose at the three-yearly Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, signaling the increasing importance of security in the relationship between Beijing and its partners in Africa. In 2018, China said it would provide USD 100 million to support the African Standby Force and African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis.
Leaders including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya’s William Ruto, and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu assembled in the Chinese capital this week for the three-day forum that Beijing has hailed as its largest diplomatic gathering in years. This year’s event comes amid questions about the direction of those relations as Beijing, long the driving foreign economic power in Africa, has been recalibrating its extensive economic ties to the continent, while other major powers are ramping up their own efforts to engage Africa.
China has been pulling back on big-ticket spending under Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative. That infrastructure drive saw it fund projects like railways, roads, and power plants and expand its influence on the continent. However, it also faced criticism that unsustainable lending contributed to heavy international debt loads now shouldered by many African countries.
Xi did not mention these debt challenges in his address but did make broad pledges for China to deepen cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade, and investment.
Xi’s pledge of USD 50 billion to the continent over the next three years — a mix of credit funds, assistance, and private investment from Chinese firms — outstrips a previous pledge made three years ago of around USD 30 billion during a prior iteration of the forum in Dakar, Senegal. While lower than the US$60 billion pledged in 2015 and 2018 respectively, it appears to be aimed at sending a strong signal to visiting leaders about China’s commitment to the continent.
In his 10-minute speech, Xi outlined 10 action areas for cooperation over the coming three years, including infrastructure connectivity, trade, security, and green development – an area where Beijing is widely seen as pushing to enhance its exports of green technology. He also pledged to create at least 1 million jobs in Africa.
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The US and Europe have also been ramping up their efforts to engage Africa and access its critical minerals, widely seen as a bid to counter inroads that China has made both politically and in the continent’s resources sector.
