China vows $50 billion aid for Africa for modernization
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged Thursday that his country will deliver about $50 billion of financial support to Africa over the next three years and jointly pursue the modernization of developing and emerging countries in Africa.
In his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of a China-Africa summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi proposed elevating relations between China and all African nations that have diplomatic ties with the Asian powerhouse to strategic ones and building a “community with a shared future for the new era.”
In the previous summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2018, the Chinese leader vowed to extend $60 billion of financing to Africa.
Observers say China is keen to promote unity with African nations and other countries in the Global South as part of its efforts to establish alternative institutions for global governance to those led by the West.
Participants of the three-day forum that runs through Friday and involves China and 53 African member countries are expected to discuss stronger cooperation through Xi’s signature Belt and Road global infrastructure program, among other issues.
Xi said China is ready to deepen collaboration with Africa in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment and promote high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, including 30 projects to enhance connectivity.
He added China would implement 10 partnership actions with Africa over the next three years, which include projects to boost green development and public health capacity, as well as training for military personnel and police officers.
The president also said China will unilaterally open its market wider to African economies, giving zero-tariff treatment to the least-developed countries that have diplomatic ties with Beijing.
The China-Africa forum was launched in 2000 to boost trade and investment between the two sides, with meetings every three years hosted alternately between Beijing and an African country. Its less-frequent leaders’ summit was first held in 2006 in the Chinese capital.
Japan has hosted a summit with African countries known as the Tokyo International Conference on African Development since 1993. The next TICAD summit is scheduled to take place in Yokohama, near the Japanese capital, in August 2025.
