Quality Cooperation

China-Africa relations based on common development and mutual benefit gain new momentum By Ding Ying

Quality Cooperation

China-Africa relations based on common development and mutual benefit gain new momentum By Ding Ying

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi started his diplomatic trips in 2012 with a three-nation African tour on January 2-7 to Cote d’ Ivoire, Niger and Namibia. He held discussions with leaders of the three African countries, signed cooperative agreements and reached broad consensus on implementing the outcomes of the fourth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and on issues concerning the fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference to be held in China this year.

New impetus

Since 1991, Chinese foreign ministers have traditionally chosen African nations to start their diplomatic trips every year, a way to demonstrate how China cherishes its friendship with Africa.“The visit has achieved the goal of enhancing political mutual trust, promoting practical cooperation and carrying forward traditional friendships,” Yang said after the trip.

Besides following this tradition, Yang’s three-nation African tour is of special significance because 2012 is an important year for China-Africa relations. “As the fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference will be held in China this year, it is important for China to listen to African nations’ opinions before it mapping out a new blueprint for promoting its cooperation with African nations,” said Xu Weizhong, Deputy Director of the Institute of West Asia and Africa at the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR).

Wang Hongyi, Secretary General of the Center for African Studies at China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), said that 2011 was the first year of China’s 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-15), which is crucial to China’s transformation to a more sustainable growth mode. But as the international financial crisis kept spreading last year, Chinese and world economies encountered severe problems. “China and African countries need to discuss all those situations thoroughly through high-level exchanges,” Wang said.

Despite impacts of the international financial crisis, trade between China and Africa developed very quickly in recent years. Wang predicted that the China-Africa trade volume would hit a new record of $150 billion in 2011. China is now Africa’s largest trading partner. Chinese investment in Africa is growing rapidly. There are a total of more than 2,000 Chinese businesses of various types operating in Africa. But some problems have also emerged amid the growth of trade. “Dialogues between senior officials areconducive to finding out solutions to these problems,” Wang said.

Promoting relations benefits both sides. For example, Africa is thirsty for foreign investment to realize its development. Due to the deteriorating global financial crisis, investment from developed economies has dropped remarkably, which leaves China a reliable and stable investor. To China, investing in Africa is a good way to use its foreign exchange reserves. “The rate of return of investing in Africa is almost the highest in the world,” Wang said.

According to statistics from the European Union and the United States, their investment in Africa has a rate of return nearly 30 percent. Plus, Wang mentioned, Africa is a major resources supplier in the world and it has a fast-growing market.

Today, the international community is facing greater challenges from issues such as food security, fight against terrorism and the sweeping financial crisis. The world needs a new international political and economic order. African nations’ status in the world are increasing with their recent development. Last April, South Africa formally joined the important bloc of emerging economies that formerly grouped Brazil, Russia, India and China. As a result, the bloc’s name has changed from BRIC to BRICS.

New focuses

As Yang concluded after his trip, African countries share a stronger wish to strengthen links with China, and have proposed to broaden the scope, increase the scale and upgrade the level of bilateral cooperation.

“This will go a long way in boosting China-Africa cooperation,” Yang said. He outlined the following steps to strengthen Sino-African relations: maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges between China and Africa, continue to give full play to the leading role of FOCAC, take a more active part in affairs crucial to Africa’s peace and security, and further strengthen unity and cooperation with Africa in international affairs.

At the upcoming fifth FOCAC Ministerial Conference, China and African nations will dig deeper on how to promote cooperation. Chinese observers have many expectations of the meeting. They believe the two sides will expand their cooperation to more fields in accordance with both sides’ needs.

ASSISTANCE: China's Ambassador to Zimbabwe Xin Shunkang (front right), along with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his wife, lays the foundation for an orphan school project funded by the Chinese Government in Mashonaland Central Province on November 3, 2011

“In future cooperation, both sides should pay more attention to quality of cooperation rather than quantity,” Xu Weizhong from CICIR suggested. China always values mutual benefit of cooperation. For example, he said, the trade structure should be improved. China’s current exports to Africa are still mainly low- and middle-end products, due to African nations’ consumption power and China’s processing technology. With China’s industrial upgrading and Africa’s economic development, China and Africa should focus more on high-end products in bilateral trade.

Xu also encourages more Chinese businesses to invest in Africa. Investment in Africa not only helps China realize industrial upgrading, but also promotes recipient countries’ economic development.

According to Xu, in the past, China and Africa shared common faith of fighting for national liberation and shaking off colonial rule. But today’s people should forge a new common stance to develop an all-weather friendship under a different international background.

Xu said that China can share its development experiences with these countries. For example, China has paid a big environmental price for its economic development. China’s experiences can prevent African nations from repeating the mistake.

Wang from CIIS stressed that the China-Africa relationship used to focus on political and diplomatic cooperation and economic assistance, but economic development and trade are now the priorities of cooperation. Since the FOCAC Summit was held in China in 2006, investment has been an important element. “China and Africa should work together to find their new approaches of cooperation under current circumstances,”he said. Moreover, China can provide more agricultural and processing technologies to Africa instead of contracting projects in the traditional way.

Wang said that the China-Africa strategic partnership should be more specific and mutually beneficial. According to him, priority should be given to climate change solutions, infrastructure construction, and cooperation programs in agricultural, financial, cultural and social fields.