Xi offers African leaders more aid as China challenges US-led global order

BEIJING (AP) — Dozens of African leaders gathered Thursday in Beijing for a summit that signals China’s influence in a continent that it hopes will be a key ally in pushing back against a U.S.-led global order.

Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the leaders billions of dollars in loans and private investment over the next three years, and proposed that relations with all African countries that have diplomatic ties with China be elevated to the “strategic” level.

“We stand shoulder to shoulder with each other to firmly defend our legitimate rights and interests,” he said at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China has become a major player in Africa since the forum was founded in 2000. Its companies have invested heavily in mining for the resources Chinese industry needs, and its development banks have made loans to build railways, roads and other infrastructure under Xi’s Belt and Road program.

African leaders have welcomed China’s assistance but are pushing for a closer alignment of aid with the continent’s development goals. They are seeking to industrialize their economies and expand agricultural exports to reduce a trade deficit with China, which has become sub-Saharan Africa’s largest bilateral trading partner.

“In the context of our industrialization effort, the portfolio of private investments in Africa should be sufficiently diversified to extend beyond the traditional field of mining and energy resources,” Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chair of the African Union Commission, said, addressing the forum in French.

In a reflection of China’s broadening relationship with Africa, Xi outlined 10 “partnership actions” that included training for African politicians and future leaders, further