China is rolling out the red carpet for 53 African leaders as it seeks to strengthen ties and cement its influence in the mineral-rich and strategically centered continent.
The three-day summit in Beijing began on Wednesday and comes as China tries to counter U.S. and European influence in the region to gain global dominance.
Under President Xi Jinping, China is trying to raise its political credibility to the point that it becomes a rulemaker versus a rulebreaker in the international playing field. To do that, it needs other countries, in this case, in Africa, to become its allies in international institutions such as the United Nations. However, to do that, it must first build and nurture the relationships.
Even though the United States, Japan, India, and Russia also hold summits to push their interests in Africa, China is unmatched when it comes to the continent’s economic partner, investing billions of dollars in infrastructure and green projects.
Deals made at the summit, which takes place every three years, will set the course of China-Africa relations until 2027.
The gathering is China’s most important diplomatic event of the year and will “write a new chapter of unity and cooperation for the Global South,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrote in the People’s Daily newspaper.
Beijing pulled out all the stops for its VIP visitors, including a lavish airport welcome, choreographed dances, a separate opening ceremony, and a welcome banquet.
“It appeals to their vanities,” Macharia Munene, a Kenya-based professor of international relations told the BBC about the superstar treatment African leaders were given.
China’s aim is to show them that “we are in the same boat, we are all victims of Western imperialism,” he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenyan President William Ruto spoke with Xi ahead of the summit and were given tours of the capital city. Xi’s meeting with Ramaphosa resulted in a deal to rebalance trade and improve jobs and a promise of more Chinese purchases of raw wool and dairy products, the Washington Post reported.
“The more complex the international situation becomes, the more Global South countries must uphold independence,” Xi told Ramaphosa, according to Chinese state media.
Xi also announced upgraded partnerships with Nigeria, Mali, Comoros, Togo, Djibouti, the Seychelles, Chad, and Malawi.
Over the course of the summit, Xi is expected to urge African leaders to push for more exports of its China-made products, particularly renewable energy products and technology in exchange for pledges of loans and investment. Last year, China approved loans worth $4.61 billion to Africa, the first annual increase since 2016.
China also wants more access to copper, cobalt, and lithium, all of which are mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and a few other countries.
Ethiopian Foreign Minister Taye Atskeselassie is also expected to make several deals at the summit as Xi focuses on smaller green technology financing, such as the $14 million Africa Solar Belt program that will ideally supply 50,000 African households in Chad and Nigeria with solar energy.
Ethiopia and China have had a cozy relationship for several years. Its capital of Addis Ababa has been referred to as the “city that China built.” The country is Africa’s second-largest debtor to China, with massive rail and road projects already completed.
China’s pivotal relationship with Africa dates back to Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the Communist Party-run People’s Republic of China in 1949. Before that, the Chinese Communist Party aligned itself with African liberation movements as a fellow fighter against colonialism. In fact, it is tradition for China’s foreign minister to mark the start of each year with a trip to Africa.
Economic opportunities, as well as political ones, in Africa have upped China’s interest for the past decade.
Three years after Xi announced his Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, financing from Chinese banks hit the $28.4 billion mark. But China was forced to pull back on spending after the pandemic as it struggled with an economic slowdown. Criticism also started piling up over its predatory lender-like loans for mega-projects in Africa, which analysts said shackled countries to China and would leave them in debt for generations to come.
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Since then, China has retooled its Belt and Road Initiative to bail out key partners in financial distress and look for low-risk investments, according to an analysis of 21,000 projects by AidData.
As China woos Africa this week, John Podesta, President Joe Biden’s top climate diplomat, also made his way to Beijing. He is expected to press Chinese leaders to make pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions.