China-Africa ties ‘best in history’ claims Xi as Beijing pushes back on Western debt trap criticism

Beijing (CNN) — China is enjoying its “best in history” ties with African nations, leader Xi Jinping said on Thursday, as he pledged $50 billion in financial support for the continent in addition to military aid.

China and Africa should rally their populations together to become a “powerful force” and write a “new chapter in peace, prosperity and progress,” Xi said in a sweeping speech to delegates from more than 50 African nations as he sought to bolster relationships seen as key to Beijing’s position as a rising global power.

Flanked by African dignitaries seated on stage in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi said “China-Africa relations are at their best in history,” and vowed to elevate China’s bilateral relations with all African countries with which it has formal ties to the level of “strategic relations.”

Xi separately pledged another $280 million in aid to African countries, split evenly between military and food assistance. The announcements are a sign Beijing wants to demonstrate its commitment to the continent, despite a recent slowdown in its overseas development lending and as Africa struggles with its foreign debt, including those owed to China.

The pledge of $140 million in military aid is the largest amount that China has earmarked for this purpose at the three-yearly Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, signaling the increasing importance of security in the relationship between Beijing and its partners in Africa. In 2018, China said it would provide $100 million to support the African Standby Force and African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis.

Leaders including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya’s William Ruto and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu assembled in the Chinese capital this week for the three-day forum that Beijing has hailed as its largest diplomatic gathering in years.

This year’s event comes amid questions about the direction of those relations as Beijing, long the driving foreign economic power in Africa, has been recalibrating its extensive economic ties to the continent, while other major powers are ramping up their own efforts to engage Africa.

China has been pulling back on big-ticket spending under Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative. That infrastructure drive saw it fund projects like railways, roads and power plants and expand its influence on the continent. However, it also faced criticism that unsustainable lending contributed to heavy international debt loads now shouldered by many African countries.

Xi did not mention these debt challenges in his address but did make broad pledges for China to deepen cooperation with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment.

Raft of support

Xi’s pledge of $50 billion to the continent over the next three years — a mix of credit funds, assistance and private investment from Chinese firms — outstrips a previous pledge made three years ago of around $30 billion during a prior iteration of the forum in Dakar, Senegal.

While lower than the $60 billion pledged in 2015 and 2018 respectively, it appears to be aimed at sending a strong signal to visiting leaders about China’s commitment to the continent.

In his 10-minute speech, Xi outlined 10 action areas for cooperation over the coming three years, including infrastructure connectivity, trade, security and green development – an area where Beijing is widely seen as pushing to enhance its exports of green technology.

He also pledged to create at least 1 million jobs for Africa.

It’s unclear how Xi’s pledges would align in practice with the expectations from visiting African leaders, analysts say. Fulfillment of past pledges has also been difficult to track, they say.

Leaders in Beijing are seeking investment, trade, and support to industrialize and create jobs. That includes a push for China to import more processed goods from Africa, rather than simply exporting and processing raw materials – like Africa’s highly sought after critical minerals.

Following Xi’s speech, African leaders also gave remarks, with South Africa’s Ramaphosa praising China’s “solidarity” with the continent. He pointed to global challenges including conflict, climate change and a “global contestation for critical minerals” that is fueling geopolitical rivalry.

“These challenges affect all nations but are more often severely felt on the African continent, yet amid these challenges there is hope and opportunity,” he said.

Speaking later on the sidelines of the summit, Senegal’s Foreign Minister Yassine Fall told reporters that there would always be global competition but observers should look to evidence of the “quality of partnership between Africa and China.”

“You see how Africans today are saying that China is on our side,” Fall said.

Strategic relationship

This year’s gathering comes as China’s longstanding relations with Africa appear even more critical for Beijing amid rising frictions with Washington.

The US and Europe have also been ramping up their own efforts to engage Africa and access its critical minerals, widely seen as a bid to counter inroads that China has made both politically and in the continent’s resources sector.

In his address, Xi played up what Beijing hopes is a kindred political stance with the continent, hailing a joint vision for “shared future,” a key buzzword he uses to denote alignment with China’s vision for a world order that provides an alternative to the one championed by the US.

He also pointed to what he described as the “great suffering” of developing countries under the West’s historical process of modernization.

Observers say Beijing is even more keen to use this year’s gathering to signal its ongoing commitment, given concerns about its role in high levels of debt among African nations.

China is not seen by analysts to be the main cause of African debt distress in most cases, as countries also owe huge sums to multilateral banks and private lenders. But its hefty loans have upped debt burdens and Beijing has been criticized for not moving quickly enough or being flexible in helping distressed or at-risk countries.

“With the intensification of this great power competition with the United States, China is coming to the realization that it has to rely on the Global South as the foundation for its diplomacy,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.

“The choice of African countries in this great power competition is becoming more important than ever, because Africa is such a big block in the Global South,” she said.

In a press conference later Thursday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi acknowledged other countries were turning their attention toward Africa.

“As Africa’s good friend, China is happy for that, we also welcome more countries for their support and assistance to Africa,” he said, adding that any “condescending approach” must be rejected.

Growing security ties

Xi’s push to bolster security is also a sign of how Beijing is looking to expand its strategic partnership with a region that has emerged as a key node in China’s military ambitions.

The People’s Liberation Army opened its first and only overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017, and its navy has made regular port calls in different African countries amid concern in Washington that Beijing could seek to open an Atlantic base.

In addition to the $140 million in military assistance announced Thursday, Xi pledged to train 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 law enforcement officers and establish a “partnership with Africa to implement the Global Security Initiative,” referring to his broader vision to reshape global security architecture away from the US alliance-based security system.

Security cooperation also has a pragmatic angle for Beijing, whose companies’ mining operations in Africa have been subject to criminal attacks.

Xi alluded to this in his comments, calling for China and Africa to “jointly maintain the safety of personnel and projects.”

However, analysts note that while China plays a substantial role in United Nations peacekeeping efforts, it’s seen as less likely to want to get involved directly in regional conflicts, even as it continues to push for other collaborations in the security realm.

China “is very proactive in understanding the mindset of the region,” said Ovigwe Eguegu, a Nigeria-based policy analyst at the consultancy Development Reimagined, and now it sees “there is a lot of dissatisfaction with the current global security order.”

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