This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting leaders and senior diplomats from 50 African countries in Beijing for the Summit of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which runs from September 4–6.
The summit, in-person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, is an opportunity for Beijing to retool its investment strategy with the continent — pivoting away from grand infrastructure projects and toward smaller, sustainable initiatives — and, in light of looming Western tariffs, convince African economies to accept (even more) Chinese goods.
Beijing styles itself as a “fellow developing country,” and, at a FOCAC conference in 2021, Xi said that “China and Africa have forged ... [an] unbreakable fraternity in our struggle against imperialism and colonialism.”
One-fifth of African economies’ exports go to China, the continent’s largest trading partner since 2009. But a severe trade imbalance complicates the relationship: in 2023, Chinese exports to Africa reached US$173 billion, while imports amounted to US$109 billion.
From 2000 to 2023, Beijing loaned more than US$182 billion to African countries to fund so-called ‘mega-projects,’ which included railways and highways, dams, and port infrastructure and were often tied to Beijing’s ambitious but controversial Belt and Road Initiative. Recent loans have focused on sleeker, higher-tech developments, such as solar farms, electric vehicle plants, and 5G Wi-Fi facilities.
China is looking to diversify some agricultural imports away from Western countries like Canada and the U.S., turning instead to economies in Africa.
South Africa leads the charge
On Monday, Xi conducted bilateral meetings with leaders from nine African countries, including South Africa, according to Chinese state media.
South Africa, a fellow BRICS member (and G20 host next year), has become a key African partner for China: Xi has visited South Africa four times, the most of any African country. On Monday, Xi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa upgraded the bilateral relationship to an “all-round strategic co-operative partnership.” Both sides also pledged to “resist unilateralism and protectionism” and endorsed “a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council.”
Ramaphosa, addressing the South Africa-China Business Forum earlier this week, said that “in many ways, you can say that South Africa and China are joined at the hip.” In 2023, South Africa exported US$12.5 billion worth of goods to China and imported US$25 billion from China in return.
Since 2003, China, through development aid and economic incentives, has persuaded Burkina Faso, Chad, The Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Senegal to drop formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Canada dithers on Africa ‘approach’
Canada’s top diplomat, Mélanie Joly, travelled to South Africa last month, the first visit by a Canadian foreign minister in two decades. She noted in an interview with The Globe and Mail that the government “has failed to pay enough attention to South Africa.” Joly also travelled to Côte d'Ivoire.
Public consultations on Canada’s “approach to partnerships in Africa” — downgraded first from a “strategy” and then to a “framework” — are set to finish on September 15.
