The Heat: China-Africa cooperation

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the Paris climate summit and his African trip have once again displayed China’s firm commitment to the global climate campaign and helping promote Africa’s development.

All African associates must emulate the way China is supporting the African continent.

There is no time for empty talk of strengthening cooperation.

GDP growth and tax revenue to be generated through the infrastructure projects, industrialisation, and trade facilitation in Africa will gradually lead to a healthy cycle of payment for Chinese loans.

Xi also pledged to provide 60 billion USA dollars in financial assistance to Africa, including 10 billion dollars for a China-Africa production capacity cooperation fund.

In the same vein, Chinese FDI into Africa is down 40% for the first half of 2015, whilst imports from Africa have declined by 43% in the same period, prompting many to ask whether China can still play a meaningful role in Africa’s development.

These moves will help translate their friendship into a driving force for common development, bringing tangible results to people on both sides.

However, China has also pursued closer relations with a number of former Soviet states in what was traditionally viewed as Russia’s sphere of influence.

The summit and the consensus on deepening cooperation between the world’s largest developing country and the continent with the biggest number of developing and underdeveloped countries have strengthened the solidarity of the developing nations.

“We remain committed to seeking the peaceful settlement of disputes through dialogue and consultation, and China supports Africa in its efforts to solve African problems through African solutions”, they said in the declaration.

Africa’s relationship with China must be beneficial to both and should not be one-sided. This was proposed by President Xi on Friday, Dec. 4 and accepted by his African counterparts, and incorporated into the Declaration of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. In it, China updated its policy stance on Africa and made clear the multifaceted relationship that the 1.3 billion people of China wish to develop with the 1.1 billion Africans.

The African official said that the FOCAC summit in Johannesburg rules out some Western allegations that China is going to reduce its investment in Africa.

“China’s peace-keeping missions in Africa prove that China is sharing responsibility to ensure world peace as a member state of the United Nations Security Council”, Hajjaj said.

There have always been critics saying that Beijing’s current activities in Africa could be similar to those of the colonialists in the past.?

Xi’s proposal to lift the China-Africa relationship to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership showed that China deals with Africa as one bloc, Hajjaj said.

More than 85 percent of Africa’s exports were raw commodities, and this did not suit the partnership that Africa and China was seeking, Ralebitso said, adding that this state of affairs (exporting raw materials) was a hangover from colonial business practices in African countries. The impression from the media is that China is becoming the main external actor in Africa, and may even now be dominant.

President Xi Jinping’s offer of US$60 billion for Africa in the next three years in various forms of aid, interest-free loans and concessional loans justifiably grabbed headlines, marking as it does a major increase in China’s financial commitment to the continent. “These plans (are) aimed at addressing three issues holding back Africa’s development, namely inadequate infrastructure, lack of professional and skilled personnel and a funding shortage”, he announced.

China-Africa relations have been on the rise since the year 2000, however, some also suggest that these no-strings attached investments, can also have a negative impact on the local environment.