Leaders and delegations from more than 50 African countries are in Beijing for a three-day summit, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry has hailed as the largest diplomatic event the country has hosted in recent years. Chinese President Xi Jinping used the occasion to announce plans for $50 billion in joint projects on the continent.
The China-Africa Cooperation Summit (FOCAC) aims to strengthen ties between the Asian nation and a continent where Beijing and Russia’s influence has been a source of concern for the US and its EU allies, which are experiencing setbacks to their presence.
In a speech at the FOCAC opening ceremony on Thursday, Xi hailed his country’s relations with Africa, claiming they are now at their peak due to nearly 70 years of tireless efforts from both sides.
“I propose that bilateral relations between China and all African countries having diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the level of strategic relations,” Xi said.
He announced ten partnership action plans that Beijing intends to implement with the continent to modernize and deepen cooperation, including investments in green technologies, education, health, security, and agriculture.
“China will provide Africa with 1 billion yuan in emergency food assistance, build 100,000 mu (about 6,670 hectares) of standardized agriculture demonstration areas in Africa, send 500 agricultural experts, and establish a China-Africa agricultural science and technology innovation alliance,” the president said.
Xi committed to providing financial support of 360 billion yuan ($50.6 billion) for the implementation of the ten projects until the next FOCAC, which takes place every three years.
Earlier on Wednesday, China, Tanzania, and Zambia jointly signed an agreement to restart a decades-old railway project aimed at boosting trade between the two African countries. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority project – launched in the 1970s when Mao Zedong was China’s leader – aims to connect landlocked Zambia with Tanzania’s access to the sea via the main port in Dar es Salaam.
Before the start of the conference, several African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema, Kenya’s William Ruto, Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi, and Senegal’s Bassirou Diomaye Faye, held bilateral meetings with Xi.
During the meetings, Xi expressed China’s readiness to continue deepening “solidarity and cooperation” with the African countries, including Gabon, which has been under military rule since August last year. He also reiterated Beijing’s commitment to supporting Libya in achieving stability when he met with Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, chairman of the divided North African nation’s Presidential Council.
China is Africa’s largest trading partner. At the last FOCAC Summit in 2021, Beijing pledged to import more than $300 billion worth of goods from the continent. China’s Foreign Ministry says the country has already exceeded that goal, buying $305.9 billion in imports within two and a half years.