African leaders applaud Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, after his speech at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday (September 5, 2024) pledged over $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing’s biggest summit since the pandemic.

More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are attending this week’s China-Africa forum, according to state media.

African leaders already secured a plethora of deals this week for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.

Addressing the leaders at the forum’s opening ceremony in Beijing’s ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday, Mr. Xi hailed ties with the continent as in their “best period in history”.

“China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,” he said.

“Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion),” Mr. Xi said.

Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion “in various types of assistance” as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.

He also promised to help “create at least one million jobs for Africa”.

The Chinese leader pledged $141 million in grants for military assistance to the continent as well.

Beijing would “provide training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police and law enforcement officers from Africa”, Mr. Xi said.

Also addressing the meeting, UN chief 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.

Deals and pledges

China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent’s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Analysts say that Beijing’s largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railway to solar panels to avocados.

Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between the country’s state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing’s PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country.

Nigeria — one of Beijing’s biggest debtors on the continent — and China inked a joint statement agreeing to “deepen cooperation” in infrastructure, including “transportation, ports and free trade zones”.

Expanding transport links

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, obtained a commitment from Mr. Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighbouring Zambia.

That project — which Zambian media has said Beijing has pledged $1 billion towards — is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.

Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing for deeper cooperation in “agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy [and] transportation infrastructure”, according to a joint statement by the two countries.

The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said.

And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Mr. Xi had promised to open up China’s markets to agricultural products from his country.

The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country’s Standard Gauge Railway — built with finance from Exim Bank of China — which connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.

And Mr. Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Mr. Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.

China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan, pose with leaders from African countries before a welcome dinner of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted more than two dozen African leaders at a banquet in Beijing on Wednesday, kicking off the city’s biggest summit in years with promises of cooperation in infrastructure, energy and education.

China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent’s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Twenty-five African leaders have arrived in Beijing or confirmed attendance at this week’s China-Africa forum, according to an AFP tally, including some whose countries face a rising risk of debt distress.

Mr. Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed guests as they arrived for a lavish dinner at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday evening, live AFP footage showed.

There was also a “family” photo of the gathered leaders and Mr. Xi will give a speech at an opening ceremony on Thursday morning.

Chinese state media has lauded Mr. Xi this week as a “true friend of Africa”, claiming Beijing’s ties were reaching “new heights” under his stewardship.

The Chinese leader had held talks with more than a dozen African counterparts in Beijing by Wednesday, a tally of state media reporting showed.

Mr. Xi called during a meeting on Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria — one of China’s biggest borrowers on the continent — for great cooperation in the “development of infrastructure, energy and mineral resources”, state news agency Xinhua said.

He also promised cooperation in “investment, trade, infrastructure, mineral resources” and other areas during talks on the same day with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mr. Xi backed Zimbabwe in its struggle against “illegal sanctions” imposed by the United States in response to corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s leadership.

Geopolitical concerns

Analysts say that Beijing’s largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

“Deepening economic engagement with Africa across the board” is one of Beijing’s key goals this week, Zainab Usman, director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told AFP.

“In specific areas, even where such an expanded engagement may not make economic sense, it will be driven by geopolitical reasons,” she said.

One goal may be narrowing the growing trade imbalance between China and Africa through increasing imports of agricultural goods and processed minerals, Ms. Usman said.

“Meeting these African demands is in China’s geopolitical interest to keep them onside in the tussle with the U.S.”

For their part, African leaders are likely to seek backing for big-ticket items, as they have in the past, but also place greater emphasis on debt sustainability, analysts say.

Recent deadly protests in Kenya were triggered by the government’s need “to service its debt burden to international creditors, including China”, said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House.

Mr. Vines and other analysts expect African leaders at this week’s forum to seek not only more Chinese investment but also more favourable loans in light of such events.