China-Africa Summit in Beijing Calls for Strengthening of Relations

Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, delivering an address on the prison industrial complex on Saturday, August 25, 2007. (Photo: Cheryl LaBash)., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

CHINA-AFRICA SUMMIT IN BEIJING: CALLS FOR STRENGTHENING RELATIONSHIPS

Fifth ministerial conference attracts 50 African states

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

A two-day meeting on July 19-20 in Beijing was the focus of international attention with the bringing together of ministers from 50 African states and officials of the People’s Republic of China. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) also attracted six African heads of state from South Africa, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti and Niger.

Also attending was the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. FOCAC was formed in 2000 and its existence has fostered the growing trade and state-to-state relations between the African continent and China.

In the concluding news conference on July 21, Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi, noted that “We are pleased with the results of our cooperation since we launched this forum. African countries have registered tremendous growth in infrastructural development.” (The New Times, July 22)

The Foreign Minister went on to say that “We are committed to open more and more prospective ways of strengthening our mutual cooperation with Africa.” During the meeting a “Beijing Declaration” and Beijing Action Plan (2013-2015)” was adopted. (The New Times, July 22)

South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said at the concluding press conference that the meeting built on the already strong foundation enhancing sustainable development in Africa. “Let us continue to act in the spirit of mutual trust and sincerity to make our partnership stronger,” Nkoana-Mashabane said.

Emphasizing the continental approach to Africa-China relations, Nkoana-Mashabane pointed out that South Africa will not pursue its own separate agenda in regard to relations with Beijing. “It will be based on the aspirations of the African agenda and leadership.”

South Africa is the Co-Chair of FACOC and will host the next summit in Johannesburg in 2015. Egypt has just ended its Co-Chairpersonship at the recent meeting in Beijing.

On July 19 the Chinese government pledged to extend another US$20 billion in concessional loans to various African states over the next three years. These loans will assist in developing infrastructure, agricultural development, manufacturing and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Growth in Relations Since 2000

There has been tremendous involvement in Africa by China over the last several years. In 2011 trade between the continent and China reached $166.3 billion with exports from Africa to China totally $93 billion.

Zambia’s Daily Mail newspaper through an article written by Chen Deming, the Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and the Honorary Co-Chair of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of FOCAC, provided a glimpse of some of the joint projects between Africa and China over the last few years. The article points out that between 2009-2011 total trade volume grew by 83 percent.

According to the Daily Mail, “In Malawi, a landlocked African country, rows of cotton cultivated by local farmers with instruction from Chinese experts are budding; in Ethiopia, a shoe factory, which was built with investment from the China-Africa Development Fund, is teeming with local workers; in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a hydropower station, financed by credit from China, has just been inaugurated.” (July 23)

In 2009 when the world capitalist economic crisis was causing retractions throughout North America and Europe, the Fourth FOCAC meeting announced eight new measures that advanced concrete cooperation between the two regions which included development assistance, credit and financial support, technical training and promotion of trade. Products from China are gaining wider distribution in Africa and goods produced on the continent are being made available to Chinese consumers.

In reference to direct investment, China involvement stood at $14.7 billion by the end of 2011, a 60 percent increase over a period of just two years. Investment projects are taking place in various sectors of the African economy including energy, mining, construction and manufacturing in addition to greater collaboration in the fields of finance, aviation, agriculture and tourism.

This escalation in economic investments has involved more than 2,000 Chinese firms. In regard to project contracting, the African continent is now China’s second largest international market.

The inflow of Chinese capital assistance has brought about an improvement in the infrastructural development in Africa. Social improvement projects have created new schools, water and clean energy projects and the education of more than 20,000 people in numerous occupational fields just over a three year period. The Daily Mail stressed that “These programs, tailor-made to meet the needs of African countries, focus on enhancing the welfare of the local people.”

This same article also states that “They (China-Africa projects) are promptly implemented without any political strings attached, contributing to the realization of the millennium development goals (MDGS) in Africa. They are testimony to the friendship between Chinese and African people…. China and Africa are spotting new and greater opportunities in our economic co-operation.”

During the opening ceremony of the FOCAC meeting on July 19, Chinese President Hu Jintao said that “China will staunchly support African countries in upholding peace and stability and seeking strength through unity. China will play a positive and constructive role in African Affairs.” (Xinhua, July 19)

The Chinese president said in relations to the character of co-operation between Beijing and the continent that “Both sides should oppose the practices of the big bullying the small, the strong domineering over the weak, and the rich oppressing the poor. We should step up consultation and coordination and accommodate each other’s concerns and work together to meet global challenges on climate change, food security and sustainable development.”

Mutual Cooperation, Not Colonialism

The increasing role of China in African development has drawn the ire of U.S. imperialism which has sought to denigrate these projects as a new form of colonialism. This seems ironic considering the historic and contemporary role of the U.S. and Western Europe in the overall underdevelopment of Africa.

The legacy of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism has rendered Africa and its people to a state of poverty and political instability. In all efforts aimed at African liberation and sovereignty, the imperialist states have always come down on the wrong side of history.

The People’s Daily Online refuted the imperialist view on Africa-China relations by pointing out that “Africa’s exports of crude oil, minerals, steel and agricultural products have played an active role in lifting the Chinese people’s livelihood. Meanwhile, the continent also serves as an indispensable market with great potential for Chinese products.” (July 18)

This same article goes on to report that “Beijing focused on helping build the continent’s productive capacity by improving its infrastructure and boosting the manufacturing sector, rather than involving the so-called ‘resource-grabbing practice.’ China also provides Africa with much-needed products and technologies, and a vast market for its commodities.”

The People’s Daily Online points to the “loans made by the Export-Import Bank of China as an example. Most of the 500 projects it has financed are designed to support local infrastructure construction, including water treatment plants, schools and irrigation systems.”

Even though the capitalist governments are attempting to discourage the ever-growing relations between China and Africa, the alternative for the continent’s governments and peoples are clear. The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), drone attacks in Somalia, the overthrowing of the Libyan government in 2011 and the failure to initiate effective assistance programs for the continent, has illustrated to the world that imperialism has nothing positive to offer the majority of world’s working and poor people.