A Broad Spectrum of Engagement
Representatives for more than 50 African states have been in Beijing, attending the Focac summit, among them UN Secretary-General António Guterres. This summit underlined the enduring appeal of China across the continent. The delegates spanned from veteran leaders such as Denis Sassou-Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville to new faces like Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Such an inclusive leadership, indeed, with Faye holding such a senior position right next to President Xi Jinping, evidences the importance China attaches to its relationship with Africa.
To many African countries, China is refreshingly non-partisan. Unlike Western aid, which comes with political strings attached, China's readiness to work with staunch Moscow allies as much as overtly pro-Western nations makes it a coveted partner in a world that has almost been split down the middle. This middle-ground position enables China to maintain close relations across diverse political spectrums in Africa.
Economic Bargains and Green Investments
Traditionally, China's interests in Africa, in addition to cultural, have been economically founded on an interest in securing natural resources and facilitating development through infrastructure projects. Such key projects as laying pipelines of 2,000km in Niger to facilitate oil exports in Benin and laying a 600km railway in Guinea show that China is committed to driving economic growth across the continent. Such projects are important in a region where international donor support for key projects has often been challenging to secure.
Nevertheless, China's economic strategy has not gone without reproach. That she is overloading African nations with too much debt and giving out too many skilled jobs to Chinese workers is what is often asserted. Notwithstanding these criticisms, most African governments view the tangible benefits of China's investments as worthwhile, especially in comparison to the more cautious approaches of international development institutions and Western investors.
The recent Focac summit marked an important shift in focus for China onto green energy and technology. China promised to commit 360 billion yuan ($50.7 billion) over the coming three years in funding to support Africa's transition to green energy. This comes with serious investments in electric vehicle manufacturing among other green projects. This means the shifting of gears, both in practical and symbolic terms, onto green technology for a continent that has lagged others in developing sophisticated industries.
These include the commitment to green energy where China has promised to initiate 30 clean energy projects, increasing nuclear technology cooperation. This becomes particularly important in the context of the fact that France previously extracted uranium from Niger without investing in the energy projects of West Africa. That China is right in the middle of mining uranium on Nigerien territory testifies to its rising clout in the sector.
Ecological Considerations
While generally, China's green energy projects are welcome, prickly issues, such as overfishing by vessels from China, affecting the livelihood of the local fishing communities, were skirted in discussions at the summit. Attention in Sierra Leone to the construction of a new fishing port, according to Fisheries Minister Princess Dugba, veiledly pointed to such discussions without confronting the issue of overfishing directly.
Further, the environmental record of China is very varied. The very ambitious goals set in infrastructure development and job creation by the Beijing Declaration and the Beijing Action Plan for 2025-2027 adopted at the summit do not address comprehensively the criticisms about environmental damage China has been accused of. For instance, the large Chinese fishing fleets remain contentious in relation to their impacts on local ecosystems and communities.
A Vision for the Future
The Focac summit adopted the Beijing Declaration and the Beijing Action Plan, 2025-2027, with goals including tripling infrastructure schemes, creating one million jobs, and expanding cooperation across various sectors. It was backed up by massive pledges of 210 billion yuan in credit lines and 70 billion yuan in business investments, supplemented by $280 million in military and food aid, underlining the multi-dimensional way in which China is supporting Africa.
It remains to be seen whether this fresh financing is well managed to prevent further crises of debt. China's earlier lending habits have been criticized for leading to large-scale debt burdens in Africa. In 2016, for example, China's lending to Africa reached $30 billion on terms often not as favorable compared with those from financial institutions in the West. A question therefore would be whether this new financing will just herald a repeat of past problems or contribute toward more viable development.
Critics of China argue that many of these funding and construction projects come with a great price: Projects financed by China Eximbank can be more expensive than those from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank. Yet, those who defend China's strategy argue Beijing has been willing to undertake projects - and assume risks - that other partners have shied away from.
In response to the economic downturn around the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the G20 countries came together and formed what is called the Common Framework that is supposed to help heavily indebted nations reach a sustainable level of debt. China's involvement in restructuring developing countries' debt burdens has been one step toward responding to these problems, though critics say it has not done anywhere near enough.
The Focac summit does suggest the China-Africa relationship could be at an inflection point of further evolution. Just as China began to fill a role in infrastructure development not being filled by other donors, now it seeks to become a key partner in such hi-tech industries as green technology. This may provide new opportunities for Africa, although what this actually means in investment terms is not yet clear.
Conclusion
In the case of China, though, this strategic pivot towards green energy and technology in Africa represents something of a new development in its engagement with the continent. The recent Focac summit underlined this, placing front and center China's commitment to supporting the transition of Africa to a greener future-even as it continued its focus on infrastructure development. Whether Beijing's redefinition of its role in Africa will be truly transformative or if traditional infrastructure projects will prevail, all depends upon the success of these recent initiatives. With its green-technology and environmentally friendly focus, together with economic diversification, the China–Africa relationship speaks to these larger global trends and challenges. What emerges with interest for policymakers and observers is how these promised actions will manifest themselves for Africa as the continent wades into the future.
To learn more about the China-Africa relationship and the impact of Focac, consider the following links.
Focac- Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Webpage
https://www.focac.org/
China-Africa Cooperation
https://www.china.org.cn/china/2019-09/01/content_75120913.htm
Beijing Declaration of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (2023) and the Action Plan for the Development of China-Africa Cooperation 2025-2027
https://www.chinadaily.com
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