China’s Xi hails ‘best in history’ Africa ties, pledges military aid

Chinese leader Xi Jinping speaks at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 5. Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images

Beijing, September 5 — 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 delegations from more than 50 African nations as he sought to bolster relationships seen as key to Beijing’s position as a rising global power.

“China-Africa relations are at their best in history. Looking to the future, I propose that China’s bilateral relations with all African countries, with which it has diplomatic ties, be elevated to the level of strategic relations,” the Chinese leader said while flanked by African dignitaries seated on stage in the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

Xi also separately pledged another $280 million in aid to African countries, split evenly between military and food assistance.

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. In 2018, China said it would provide $100 million to support the African Standby Force and African Capacity for Immediate Response to Crisis.

The freshly promised military aid signals the increasing importance of security in the relationship between Beijing and its partners in Africa.

Leaders including South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, Kenya’s William Ruto and Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu have 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.

Xi and leaders of African countries listen to children sing during a reception at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on September 4 in Beijing. Andres Martinez Casares/Pool/Getty Images

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.

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.