NIKKEI Asia
International relations
Xi says 2.8bn Chinese and Africans can modernize Global South together
Unbalanced ties, debt concerns loom over gathering of leaders in Beijing
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan pose with leaders from African nations ahead of a dinner reception for the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Sept. 4. © Reuters
CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer
September 4, 2024 10:37 JSTUpdated on September 4, 2024 22:39 JST
TOKYO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sought solidarity with Africa, saying both sides had struggled against imperialism and colonialism as he opened a forum with leaders from across the continent.
Hosting a banquet for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, Xi vowed to achieve modernization with the emerging economies of the so-called Global South, even as many observers expect China to scale back its largess to mitigate debt risks.
"I believe that as long as the over 2.8 billion Chinese and African people work together, we will surely create a brilliant road to modernization and lead the development of the Global South," Xi told attendees including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
The forum is one of the world's largest diplomatic gatherings, with representatives from 53 of 54 African countries, Eswatini being the lone exception. For China, it is a crucial opportunity to exert influence through cooperation and aid, particularly as other countries also step up their own engagement with the resource-rich but economically underdeveloped continent.
Indonesia this week held its own Africa forum and similarly vowed to "defend the interests of the Global South" as an alternative to the international order dominated by the U.S. and other Western powers.
"There is definitely an increasing competition in terms of buying African support and African cooperation," said Jana de Kluiver, a research officer at the Institute of Security Studies in South Africa.
The Chinese government uses the forum, held every three years since 2000, alternating between China and an African nation, to promote strategic cooperation. While Beijing says the ties forged through the meetings are mutually beneficial, some observers say it is not that simple.
"China is very much in the driver's seat," Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told Nikkei Asia. "The relationship is asymmetrical in the sense that it still has the feature of a donor-recipient relationship."
While holding one-on-one meetings with a string of African leaders throughout the day on Wednesday, Xi witnessed the signing of a deal to refurbish a key railway connecting Zambia's copper heartland with the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. Originally built and financed by China in the 1970s, Beijing had previously proposed more than $1 billion in funding to upgrade the 1,860-kilometer line, part of which is in poor condition, according to reports.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema were present at the signing ceremony.
Leaders from 53 out of 54 African countries have been jetting into Beijing over the past few days. Here, a plane carrying South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport on Sept. 2. © Reuters
From 2000 through 2023, Chinese lenders provided loans worth $182.28 billion to 49 African countries and seven regional borrowers, according to a recent report by Boston University's Global Development Policy Center. These loans focused on the energy sector, transportation, and information and communications technology. Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya were among the top borrowers, the report said.
Infrastructure lending tied to construction projects involving Chinese companies was not the original purpose of forging China-Africa ties, according to Nantulya, who is participating in this week's conference. The forum began as an African initiative to foster commercial cooperation with Beijing, but the balance of power has steadily tilted toward China as the country developed, he said.
This "sheer power imbalance" prompted some African intellectuals to question in 2015 whether ties with China had started to resemble those with past European colonial masters, Nantulya added.
China logged a trade surplus of $63.5 billion with Africa as a whole in 2023, according to the Chinese customs office, importing crude oil, copper, cobalt and other commodities while selling manufactured goods.
On Monday, South African President Ramaphosa, who arrived ahead of the forum, raised the trade imbalance in bilateral talks with Xi. Asking the Chinese leader to address the disparity, he said, "We urge for more sustainable manufacturing and job-creating investments."
A joint statement from the pair mentioned "improving the current trade structure, increasing market access and the export of value-added goods from South Africa."
Yet the trade imbalance and donor-recipient relationship are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, analysts say, as Africa lacks the economic strength and cohesiveness to negotiate with Beijing.
On the other hand, Beijing has been very "effective" at securing African votes in its favor at the United Nations on controversial issues such as Taiwan and human rights in Xinjiang, Nantulya said.
At the same time, while the African ties China has fostered appear to be reaping diplomatic benefits, debt sustainability is a growing concern, especially as China grapples with its own growth slowdown, aggravated by sluggish property demand and weak consumer confidence.
The authors of the Boston University report predicted China would likely continue its more cautious approach to lending, when compared against the annual commitments of more than $10 billion seen a decade ago.
"Amid these notable shifts, it remains to be seen whether China's partnerships in Africa will retain their quality as the quantity of lending descends to a lower level," they wrote.
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