BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of African leaders gathered Thursday in Beijing for a summit that signals China's influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order.
Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the leaders billions of dollars in loans and private investment over the next three years, and proposed that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder with each other to firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests," he said at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000. Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs, and its development banks have made loans to build railways, roads and other infrastructure under Xi's Belt and Road program.
African leaders have welcomed China's assistance but are pushing for a closer alignment of aid with the continent's development goals. They are seeking to industrialize their economies and expand agricultural exports to reduce a trade deficit with China, which has become sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner.
“In the context of our industrialization effort, the portfolio of private investments in Africa should be sufficiently diversified to extend beyond the traditional field of mining and energy resources,” Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union Commission, said, addressing the forum in French.
In a reflection of China's broadening relationship with Africa, Xi outlined 10 “partnership actions” that included training for African politicians and future leaders, further opening of Chinese markets, agriculture demonstration areas, vocational and technical training, green energy projects and 1 billion yuan ($140 million) in military assistance grants.
Xi said China would eliminate tariffs on products from most of the world’s poorest countries, including 33 in Africa, in an expansion of existing exemptions.
“While commending the overall progress so far achieved, we also appreciate the announcement of further areas of partnership actions,” said Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, speaking on behalf of eastern Africa. “We salute a new characterization of China-Africa relations.”
China is training more military professionals in Africa than anyone else, and its widespread leadership and governance training gives the country an extra layer of influence by putting it in touch with consecutive generations of politicians, said Paul Nantulya, who specializes in relations with China at the African Center for Strategic Studies in Washington.