At the 9th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced an ambitious strategy to lift the China-Africa relationship to new heights. Attracting about fifty African leaders, Xi said that connections between all the African countries having diplomatic links to China should be raised to a “strategic” level.
Key to this strategic improvement is China’s dedication to provide African countries more access to markets. Announcing, “China will voluntarily and unilaterally open its market wider,” President Xi We have agreed to grant zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines to all Least Developed nations with diplomatic ties to China, including 33 nations in Africa.”
China has become a vital friend for African nations since FOCAC was founded in 2000. Chinese businesses have made large investments in African mining industries to guarantee necessary resources for their own sectors. As part of Xi’s Belt and Road strategy, China’s development banks have been crucial in funding major infrastructure projects including roads and railroads all throughout the continent.
Following over 70 years of progress, Xi underlined that the relationship between China and Africa is now “at its best in history”. He restated his will to create “an all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for the new era.”
While many African nations try to manage trade imbalances, African leaders are looking to China for help in increasing agricultural exports and hastening industrialization of their nations. Xi suggested 10 action plans with an eye toward cooperation in sectors including industry, agriculture, and infrastructure development to help achieve these objectives. Furthermore pledging RMB360 billion yuan in several forms of financial assistance for Africa, the Chinese President.
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Apart from trade and investment, Xi underlined security collaboration. Xi said as part of China’s Global Security Initiative RMB1 billion yuan in military assistance, training for 6,000 African military troops and 1,000 police officers, and inviting 500 young African military officials to visit China.
China’s cooperation with Africa has developed into a complex relationship with political and security aspects added to top priority above mere economic ones. Now ranking as the main bilateral commercial partner of sub-Saharan Africa, China’s strategic significance of this relationship keeps rising. African officials expect that China’s backing will help to fix the trade imbalance and hasten growth over the continent as China gets more involved in the area.
