China reaps most benefits of the Africa relationship
The ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing September 4-6 takes place under the theme of “Joining hands to advance modernization and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.”
But how shared can that future be between the Asian economic giant and Africa?
The eight summits since 2000 have not resulted in mutual gain, particularly in trade and industrialization for Africa. China has reaped most of the benefits. The fault lies with Africa’s lack of a strategy for engagement with China.
I am a scholar of international relations and have researched Africa-China relations over several years.
The China-Africa cooperation forum has become the most important event on the African international relations calendar. More African leaders attend these summits than show up for the United Nations general assembly. Data shows that the forum attracts 40 to 60 African heads of state and government, far more than any other regular summit with a single country. The US-Africa Leaders Summit in December 2022 saw participation by 45 heads of state and government and 49 countries, but it is far less frequent. The previous one was in 2014.
Although the EU, France, South Korea and the US are important to the African continent, they do not have the same ambition that China has. Nor the kind of free hand that China’s authoritarian system allows its leaders. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation is therefore important for African leaders because it often leads to big promises which outweigh anything that can be promised by other partners in one sitting.
The forum’s defined purpose is to be a platform for
- equal consultation,
- enhancing understanding,
- expanding consensus,
- strengthening friendship and
- promoting
