Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Africa these days, where he promised on Thursday 50.7 billion dollars to finance the development of Africa over the next three years. Likewise, the Asian country will encourage investments in the continent worth at least 9.858 billion dollars.
“China and Africa should stand united and defend their legitimate rights at a time when the world is undergoing unprecedented changes. Our relations are at their best in history,” Xi said at the opening of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), a meeting with which the Asian giant seeks to further strengthen its presence on the continent.
The president announced 30 infrastructure projects and renewed his promise to increase the continent’s agricultural imports, an intention he had already expressed during the previous edition of FOCAC, held in Dakar in 2021.
Xi also stressed that China will help Africa transition “to low-carbon technology.” “We will work with Africa to promote ecological modernization, green development and the transition to low-carbon technology,” he said.
Similarly, he assured that China would offer $141 million in non-refundable military aid to Africa, as well as the training of 6,000 military personnel. “We will work with African countries to launch a new wave of development in the countries of the South. Cooperation will deepen in areas such as trade and infrastructure, but also in areas such as personnel training and poverty reduction,” he said.
“A strong friendship” with Africa
Xi, who has visited Africa 10 times, said China’s “friendship” with the continent “remains strong” and “is growing stronger no matter how the world changes.” “Together, we have built roads, railways, schools, hospitals, industrial parks and special economic zones. These projects have changed the lives and destinies of many people,” he said.
In addition, the Chinese leader said the two sides have maintained “close coordination” in international and regional affairs and together have “made the voice of the Global South stronger.”
China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 years, with trade volume reaching a record $282.1 billion in 2023.
Back to debt
However, some voices have also criticized the Asian giant’s strategy on the continent regarding the so-called “debt traps” because of the alleged strategic use of debt to make African countries captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands.
Africa’s trade deficit with China widened to $64 billion last year, although the gap is expected to narrow in the first half of 2024 thanks to growth in its imports from Africa.
In this sense, Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, assured during his visit to Nigeria at the end of 2022, that “too often, international agreements on infrastructure are opaque, coercive” and “burden countries with unmanageable debt.”
Weaken America
The United States always turns to China, and vice versa. This is why analysts believe that this movement of China in Africa hides a new objective, which is none other than to try to weaken the United States. “This summit comes in a context of intensification of strategic frictions between China and the West, especially the United States,” he explains to Business Insider Ali Wye, from think tank American Crisis Group.
Don Graves, the US deputy secretary of commerce, acknowledged during his December 2022 visit that the US was lagging behind China in investment in the African continent, but said his country remained the “partner of choice” in Africa. He, in turn, issued a warning, accusing Beijing of seeking to exploit African countries. “We bring the best technology and innovation, the highest standards… The United States helps build the capacity of our partner countries rather than exploiting them.”
On the other hand, “China will also seek to demonstrate that while advanced industrial democracies increasingly line up to challenge its influence, it is by no means diplomatically isolated, particularly in the developing world,” Wyne says.
