FOCAC: “The Pillar of South-South Cooperation”

The relationship between China and the African continent is close and should be expanded further. This was perhaps the key outcome of the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which concluded in Beijing on Friday. In his speech on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined the basic principles of China’s plans for the next three years, leading up to the 10th FOCAC in 2027. The focus is on what Xi called “10 partnership measures” to help “develop modernization together.” “China and Africa together account for one-third of the world’s population,” he said. “Without modernization, there can be no global modernization.” That’s all the countries on the continent except for Eswatini, which maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan to this day.

Numerous projects to expand economic cooperation play a central role in the “Partnership Campaign.” Africa’s exports to the People’s Republic will be greatly expanded. Last year, bilateral trade reached a record high of $282 billion, but Africa still has a high trade deficit. Exports to China amount to $109 billion, while imports from the People’s Republic amount to $173 billion. At the 8th FOCAC in 2021, Xi announced that China would increase imports from Africa to $300 billion. This target has clearly been missed. Now, the Chinese president has announced that the People’s Republic will no longer impose tariffs on imports from the least developed countries, which includes 33 African countries, in order to increase imports. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a meeting with Xi on Monday, also urged him to take action to address the inequalities in the trade structure. This will require the People’s Republic, which has so far mainly imported raw materials and agricultural products, to import more manufactured goods from African countries.

The “10 Partnership Measures” actually provide measures to boost the industrial development of African countries. Business clusters will be established for industrial cooperation between the two sides. China wants to establish digital technology cooperation centers in African countries and promote the digital transformation of the continent as a whole. Infrastructure expansion is also on the agenda. In the future, Beijing wants to launch 30 projects that will focus specifically on promoting climate change technologies, and promote the use of renewable energy among others. 60,000 citizens of African countries will receive training and further education for professional activities. According to President Xi Jinping, a total of 360 billion yuan (50.6 billion dollars) will flow from China to Africa over the next three years, with 210 billion yuan (29.5 billion dollars) in the form of loans and the rest in the form of grants and investments for individual companies. It remains to be seen whether this will be implemented. Chinese lending to African countries has declined sharply in recent years. Chinese lenders have focused mainly on small-scale, less risky loans.

Xi also announced a range of projects beyond economic cooperation. The People’s Republic will invite 1,000 African politicians to begin an exchange on government practices. Another aspect: sending 2,000 doctors and other medical personnel to African countries to help build their health systems. There will also be an expansion of military cooperation, which is currently weak. Xi announced plans to train 6,000 soldiers and 1,000 police officers from African countries. Another 500 African officers will be invited to China. Joint military exercises were also discussed. If the People’s Republic does indeed have a stronger military on the African continent, it will become another region where it will compete with the West and Russia. And that will change the current practice in Africa, which has been mainly economically centered.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ speech at the China-Africa Summit in Beijing was also a setback to Western efforts to drive a wedge between China and African nations, largely unsuccessful so far. Guterres not only said that China and Africa could together lead a much-needed “revolution” in renewable energy and digital technologies on the continent, but also saw their cooperation as a “pillar” of South-South cooperation, which is “necessary” to achieve UN development goals. Both sides will have the full support of the UN.

The city commentator made it very clear that “modernization” is “an inalienable right of all nations,” but the West’s approach has brought “tremendous suffering” to developing countries. Now China and Africa have joined forces to “overcome the historical injustice of the modernization process.” Not only China, but also Africa has reawakened and is moving quickly toward the modernization goals set out in the African Union’s Agenda 2063. Together, we can now “start a wave of modernization in the Global South.”

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