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Lovemore Chikova China-Africa Focus
China and Africa have in the last few years risen to become the major cooperating partners in the world, with projects involving billions of dollars being undertaken.

In fact, the relations between the two sides have become the envy of other continents because of the successes being recorded each passing year.

For instance, China availed $60 billion at the end of 2015 directed towards the industrialisation of the continent, this coming as the value of trade between China and Africa totalled $200 billion in 2014.

Apart from the $60 billion availed at the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation Summit in South Africa in December 2015, billions of dollars had already been poured into infrastructure development in Africa.

It is clear that Africa is reaping benefits from its close ties with China, especially with the private sector in the Asian country taking more interest on the continent.

According to The Diplomat magazine, Chinese loans are uplifting the African continent at an unprecedented rate.

The magazine notes that between 2000 and 2014, almost 50 percent of Chinese loans financed the two biggest sectors in Africa — transportation and energy.

Transportation (mainly roads and railways) received $24,2 billion of loans, while the energy sector, mainly electricity, got $17,6 billion.

During that time, the most outstanding projects undertaken by the Chinese included the Phase I of Kenya’s Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway funded by $3,6 billion of loans.

The Addis-Djibouti Railway was also one of the major projects being funded by a $2,5 billion loan. The railway was commissioned recently and Chinese firms have since moved in to establish industrial parks along the line to add value.

What has been the major drive behind this successful cooperation between China and Africa? The answer lies in the Asian economic giant’s realisation that Africa faces the same predicament that it faced nearly 40 years ago.

Since China embarked on a development model that emphasised on infrastructure development to back its industrialisation process, its fortunes have taken a new turn. The development miracle that China is known to be is mainly attributed to its aggressive policies which promoted industrialisation. The panacea to Africa’s development, just like China’s nearly four decades ago, is attaining industrial growth.

To attain the developmental goals for Africa, China has insisted that it will not dictate to the African countries on the economic growth path they should take.

Countries on the continent are charting their own developmental paths, and China will only intervene when asked to make its contribution.

Speaking at the Focac summit in South Africa, Chinese President Xi Jinping noted that this developmental model will ensure that Africa’s development is unstoppable.

“Africa has actively advanced industrialisation and pursued sustainable self-development,” he said.

“Such a momentum of rapid growth is unstoppable. We in China, both the government and people, heartily rejoice over and are proud of Africa’s achievements. We sincerely wish African countries and people greater achievements and an even brighter future in pursuing development and progress.”

What has made the cooperation between China and Africa more successful is because the two have “always been guided by the principle of treating each other as equals, promoting win-win progress and common development and enhancing sincere friendship and cooperation”, according to President Xi.

China has always emphasised on adhering to the principles of sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith when dealing with Africa. The Asian economic giant also says it strives to uphold the values of friendship, justice and shared interests, while embracing a new era of win-win cooperation and common development.

It was at the Focac summit, where President Xi charted the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and upgraded it to “a comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership”.

President Xi announced five major pillars that will determine China-Africa relations hence forth.

Political equality and

mutual trust

President Xi noted that a high degree of political mutual trust was the foundation of China-Africa friendship.

“We should respect each other’s choice of development path and not impose one’s own will on the other,” he said.

“On issues involving core interests and major concerns of each side, we should show mutual understanding, support each other and jointly uphold equity and justice.”

China strongly believes that Africa belongs to the African people and that African affairs should be decided by the African people, he said.

Win-win economic cooperation

China has pledged to facilitate Africa’s development endeavours and ultimately deliver win-win progress and common development through mutually beneficial cooperation.

President Xi said there should be a full leverage on the strengths of political mutual trust and economic complementarities between China and Africa, and focus on industrial capacity cooperation, as well as industrialisation.

“By doing so, we can deepen China-Africa cooperation in all areas and bring its benefits to our peoples,” he said.

Mutually enriching

cultural exchanges

President Xi’s catchphrase on this factor was: “diversity makes the world beautiful”.

“We are proud that both China and Africa have time-honoured and splendid civilisations,” he said.

“We should strengthen cultural exchanges and mutual learning between China and Africa. Facilitate more exchanges between the youths, women, think tanks, media, universities and other sectors of the two sides.”

This exchange will also include the promotion of cultural interactions, policy coordination and people-to-people exchanges to advance common progress and ensure the sustained growth of China-Africa friendship from generation to generation, he said.

Mutual assistance in security

The best way to guarantee peace is to fight poverty because it is the root cause of chaos, while peace in turn is the guarantee for development. President Xi noted that “development holds the key to solving all problems”.

In that regard, China promised to support the “settlement of African issues by Africans in the African way”.

“We are of the view that in resolving security issues, both the symptoms and the root causes must be addressed in a holistic way,” said President Xi.

“China stands ready to take an active part in Africa’s efforts in capacity-building for maintaining and strengthening peace and security and support Africa in its endeavours to speed up development, eradicate poverty and realise durable peace.”

Solidarity and coordination in

international affairs

China and Africa have always shared a common position on and interests in a wide range of international issues.

“We should strengthen consultation and coordination so as to make the global governance system more just and equitable and uphold our common interests,” said President Xi.

“China will continue to stand up and speak for Africa at the United Nations and other fora to support Africa in playing a greater role on the world stage.”