Refer Report

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) opened in Beijing on the 4th. China and some 50 African countries will discuss investment and economic cooperation for three days until the 6th. At this forum, China indicated that it will take steps to resolve the ‘debt trap’ problem that is plaguing African countries, keeping in mind its strategic competition with the West.

The China-Africa Cooperation Forum began in 2000. It is held alternately in China and African countries every three years, and this is the eighth time. According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about 300 people visited this forum, including foreign ministers and economic ministers from 53 African countries and representatives of regional international organizations such as the African Union (AU).

China is giving special significance to this forum, saying that it will be a new milestone in China-Africa relations. This is because it is the first forum held in a situation where Western hegemony in the region is shaking due to the war in Ukraine and the war in the Gaza Strip, and the influence of China, India, and others is growing, leading to the advent of a multipolar world order.

Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a summit with African Union (AU) Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat the previous day that “China and the Global South are growing in power,” adding that “Africa is an important pole of the world. China will closely engage in political exchanges with Africa and lead the way to an equal and orderly global multipolarization.”

The Global South mainly refers to emerging developing countries in the Southern Hemisphere. It also carries political meaning as a victim of imperialism and an entity alienated from the Western-centered international order. China claims to be the leader of the Global South and emphasizes that it will treat Africa as a partner leading the multipolar world order, going beyond economic cooperation.

At the summit with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Xi praised South Africa’s decision to bring Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICC) for war crimes. Xi has held a series of bilateral meetings with leaders of 15 countries since the 2nd.

The 8th China-Africa Cooperation Forum Ministerial Meeting was held in Beijing on the 3rd./Xinhua Yonhap News

Wang Yi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and Minister of Foreign Affairs, promised at a ministerial meeting held the previous day that China would play a role in resolving African countries’ debt problems.

“China will support and promote the AU’s accession to the G20 and support the BRICS framework to attract new African member countries,” Wang said, promising that “China will play a key role in addressing Africa’s debt problem within multilateral frameworks such as the G20.”

Most of Africa’s debt is owed to Western countries and banks, such as Europe, but China is also being criticized for putting African countries in a debt trap through the ‘One Belt One Road (land and sea Silk Road)’ project.

According to Chatham House, by the end of 2022, African countries’ debt to China will account for 12% of total private and public external debt, amounting to $696 billion (about 934 trillion won) as of 2020. This is a fivefold increase from 2000, when the forum first began.

The Belt and Road Initiative, initiated by Xi Jinping, is the trigger for the surge in African debt to China. The railway network connecting Kenya’s capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa, which opened in 2017, was originally planned to be extended to Uganda, but progress has been slow as both Kenya and Uganda are repaying their debts to China.

Kenyan President William Ruto, who was elected on a platform of tough policy toward China, is demanding that China restructure its debt. China has announced that it will forgive 23 debts given to 17 African countries that are due in the first term of 2021.

One-on-one performance and status

Western media is skeptical about China’s new Africa cooperation, as they believe that China itself has no room to invest these days. According to Boston University’s Center for Global Development Policy, China’s lending to Africa plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic, but recovered to $4.6 billion at the end of last year, but it is still below the peak of $28.8 billion in 2016. Reuters predicted that “African countries are skeptical about whether China will follow their will.”

The American media outlet Radio Free Asia reported that China’s approach to Africa was “an attempt to unite African countries to reach a favorable conclusion at the United Nations on issues such as Taiwan and to roll back human rights standards.”

African media outlets are somewhat positively evaluating China’s efforts. Lisa Thompson, a political economist at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa, criticized China’s lease of the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka in a column in the local newspaper Globe and Mail, but said, “Debt adjustments with China are better than those with the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the 1980s and 1990s.” She mentioned the Chinese investment in a battery factory built in a lithium mine in Zimbabwe, pointing out that it was a new model that had not existed in relations with the West.

However, there are voices from Africa that this forum should be an opportunity to establish a strategic relationship with China. They say that the trade structure that trades mineral resources for industrial products should be changed. South African President Ramaphosa said in his meeting with President Xi that “the trade imbalance must be corrected.” Last year, China’s trade surplus with Africa amounted to 64.1 billion dollars (approximately 86 trillion won).

The city mayor is expected to emphasize agriculture and green energy investment in his speech on the 5th. The China-Africa Joint Declaration will be announced at the closing ceremony on the 6th.

Source: Korean