China Pledges $60bn In African Aid At FOCAC Summit

The Chinese President had informed President Buhari of the willingness of his country to finance the whole project through a special loan agreement.

China has announced $60bn (£40bn) of assistance and loans for Africa to help with the development of the continent.

While several world leaders meet in Paris to discuss the fight against climate change, a very different kind of meeting is happening to the south. This week, African countries are receiving a visit from their largest trading partner: China.

But does it comprise as little as 1%, or even less than that?

“There are mutual needs and complementarities between China and Africa to carry out industrial capacity cooperation”, he said.

The CAD Fund was set up in 2007 to diversify financial vehicles facilitating Chinese investment in Africa. “It is not only Chinese people who are victimised in Africa, I don’t think the Chinese are specifically targeted”, Zhong said during a media briefing.

The problem is that no one seems to be 100% sure that China’s official figures correctly capture how much it has invested outside its borders. Up to $2.5 billion from this loans will go to the state-owned rail operator of South Africa for the development of the country’s transportation system.

 China’s direct military involvement however is increasingly evident.

Dr Yejoo Kim from the Centre for Chinese Studies at the University of Stellenbosch told Africa Check other difficulties include that investors in joint ventures or the informal economy may not be counted.

And he added that, on past experience, “the Chinese deliver what they promise”.

South Africa through its partnership with China is joining in attempts by the BRICS bloc to upend the global order by fashioning a coalition to resist what these countries view as American arrogance. “You can see that with Zimbabwe; you can see that in the last 15 years with Sudan”.

Statistics show that in 2014, trade between China and Africa exceeded US$220 billion and China’s investment stock in Africa surpassed US$30 billion, an increase of 22 and 60 times respectively over the figures in 2000 when FOCAC was just established. The Chinese leader didn’t specify which of Africa’s more than 50 countries would receive the aid. He promised to encourage more Chinese investments in the power, telecommunications, ports, roads and aviation sectors.

To that end, Xi suggested that China and African countries stick to equality-based and win-win cooperation, strike a right balance between principles and profits, and jointly build a community of common destiny. Mr. Wang, the foreign minister, has pointed out that China and Africa will “strengthen cooperation in fighting terrorism and extremism” – a decision that has been steeled following the recent killing on three Chinese engineers and technicians in Mali.