China in Africa: FOCAC celebrates two decades of mutually beneficial relationship
What happened?
On 29 and 30 November, the People’s Republic of China and the African countries participated in the eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Dakar, Senegal. The forum’s theme was ‘Deepen China-Africa Partnership and Promote Sustainable Development to Build a China-Africa with a Shared Future in a New Era’ and was attended by 53 African countries and the African Union. Eswatini, the only African country with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, did not participate in the forum.
Despite being a ministerial meet, the opening ceremony was attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, who addressed the forum online and delivered a speech highlighting agricultural cooperation, Chinese investments in Africa and greater trade exchanges between China and the African continent. President Xi delivered his speech based on the White Paper published by the State Council Information Office on China’s cooperation with Africa in the new era. It emphasized China’s intentions of helping the African Union with achieving its goals of vaccinating 60 percent of the African population by 2022, alleviating poverty, promoting agricultural development, encouraging investments worth USD 10 billion in Africa, providing means to digitization of the economy and green development and advocating closer cultural ties and people-to-people exchanges
The forum also adopted four resolutions: the Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024), the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035, the Sino-African Declaration on Climate Change and the Declaration of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of FOCAC.
What does it mean?
The cooperation between China and Africa will continue to grow in the coming decade as the country establishes itself as one of the foremost supporters of African development and economic sustainability. Africa’s support for the country is bound to grow further in the coming decades as China pushes billions in investment and provides greater assistance than other countries. There is much criticism regarding China’s lending to African countries and the status of their independence in the face of China’s extreme support that at times leads them into a debt trap. However, African countries such as Rwanda and Guinea have rejected accusations of lack of freedom in their relationship and have deeply appreciated the assistance offered by China.
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About the Authors:
Sukanya Bali is a doctoral candidate at OP Jindal Global University. Porkkodi Ganeshpandian is a research intern in the School of Conflict and Security Studies at the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Avishka Ashok is Research Associate at NIAS.