Chinas President Xi Jinping (front 4th L) and his wife Peng Liyuan (front 3rd L) pose for a group photograph with leaders from African nations ahead of a dinner reception during the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 4 September 2024. (Ken Ishii/ AFP)
- China’s President Xi Jinping promises to work with African leaders, no matter how the world changes.
- He outlined how the Belt and Road Initiative had transformed Africa over 24 years.
- African leaders snubbed the low-key Indonesia Africa Forum and instead headed to China.
With a single exception, African countries will always have a friend in China, President Xi Jinping told visiting leaders as the triannual Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) returned to Beijing.
The exception is Eswatini, the lone holdout which still recognises Taiwan as an independent state.
“Since the mid-20th century, we have been fighting shoulder-to-shoulder imperialism, colonialism and hegemonism, and advancing hand-in-hand along the path of development, revitalisation and modernisation,” said Xi.
“China-Africa friendship remains robust and is growing stronger through generations, no matter how the world changes.”
Focac is 24 years old, and seeing out the period of something approaching friendship between Western countries on the one hand and China and Russia on the other.
With both sides courting Africa, the numbers suggest China is working at it harder.
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Since coming into office, he had been to 10 African countries and hosted many African heads of state and government, said Xi.
His Russian ally, Vladimir Putin, has been to six African countries since the turn of the century: Western Sahara, Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria and Libya.
The United States’ President Joe Biden has, so far, failed to keep his promise to visit at least one African country during his tenure – and now seems unlikely to ever do so, with his term ending in November.
His preferred successor, Kamala Harris, went to Ghana, Tanzania and Zambia.
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The African heads of state in Beijing for the forum mostly arrived a couple of days early for bilateral meetings, all of which promised greater future cooperation.
Despite criticism from the West over the Belt and Road Initiative, which has over the years positioned China as a big player in Africa, Xi was proud to list how Africa had benefitted from the relationship with Beijing over the years.
“Through this key cooperation platform, we have together built roads, railways, schools, hospitals, industrial parks and special economic zones. These projects have changed the lives and destiny of many people,” he said.
Since the last Focac meeting, in December 2021, China and African countries have “maintained close cooperation and coordination on major international and regional issues. Together, we have made the voice of the Global South stronger”, Xi said.
Other countries have now followed China’s Focac formula, most recently in the form of the Indonesia Africa Forum, which ended on Monday.
Most African leaders snubbed that meeting, and instead sent ministers and their deputies.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.