President Xi Jinping announced at the opening ceremony of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing on Wednesday that China would unilaterally give all least developing countries (LDCs) zero-tariff market access for all products, making China the first major economy to take such a step. This move is part of a wide-ranging action plan agreed at the forum, which includes over 50 billion dollars of investment by China in African development initiatives over the next three years.
The FOCAC summit has been taking place amidst a backdrop of increasingly hysterical propaganda about the China-Africa relationship in the Western media, particularly in relation to China’s infrastructure investment. China is painted as engaging in exploitative, neocolonial practices, but this does not chime with reality. Indeed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on the sidelines of the FOCAC summit that he did not believe Chinese investments in Africa were pushing the continent into a ‘debt trap’ but were, rather, part of a mutually beneficial relationship.
A few facts that Washington’s stenographers routinely ignore:
- China has been Africa’s largest trading partner for 15 years in a row
- China provides finance for desperately-needed infrastructure projects, with interest rates typically half those of Western lenders, and with longer repayment periods
- China’s investment is focused on meeting Africa’s needs, particularly around energy, transport, telecommunications and green development
- With Chinese support, Ethiopia in 2015 celebrated the opening of the first metro train system in sub-Saharan Africa
- The African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa was funded by the Chinese government as a gift to the AU
- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) was built with Chinese support
- While there are endless scare stories about Chinese companies only employing Chinese workers, research shows that over 75 percent of employees in Chinese companies in Africa are local
- A key reason for the popularity of Chinese financing is that it comes without strings attached, unlike organisations like the IMF, with its demands for austerity, privatisation and deregulation
- 52 of the 54 African countries have signed up to the Belt and Road Initiative
- China does not interfere in the internal affairs of African countries, and regards respect for other countries’ sovereignty as an inviolable principle
- China-Africa energy cooperation offers the opportunity for Africa to leapfrog the fossil fuel age and move straight to renewable energy
- Tens of thousands of African students attend universities in China, which offers more university scholarships to African students than the leading western governments combined
- China’s approach is markedly different to that of the West. At the 2018 FOCAC summit, Xi Jinping outlined China’s “Five No” approach to its relations with Africa: 1) No interference into African countries’ pursuit of development paths that fit their national conditions. 2) No interference in African countries’ internal affairs. 3) No imposition of China’s will on African countries. 4) No attachment of political strings to assistance to Africa. 5) No seeking of selfish political gains in investment and financing cooperation with Africa.
- China is helping Africa to break out of an underdevelopment that was forced on it by Western colonialism and imperialism. As Liberia’s former Minister of Public Works W Gyude Moore said, “China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries”.
So when the West accuses of China of neo-colonialism in Africa, it is really just engaging in projection and slander.
The following article is republished from Global Times.
China has decided to give all least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
This has made China the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step. It will help turn China’s big market into Africa’s big opportunity, Xi said, Xinhua reported.
China will expand market access for African agricultural products, deepen cooperation with Africa in e-commerce and other areas, and launch a “China-Africa quality enhancement program,” Xi said.
Chinese experts said that this new trade measure will not only greatly facilitate trade between Africa and the world’s second-largest economy but also inject new impetus into Africa’s development through enhanced trade and investment.
“Our offering of zero-tariff treatment to the least developed countries in Africa … is actually a crucial component of support for trade… The core development concept is to unlock Africa’s autonomous development capabilities through enhanced trade, rather than merely increasing the volume and quality of China-Africa trade,” Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday.
In recent years, under the strategic guidance of heads of state from China and Africa, economic and trade cooperation has shown promising results.
In 2023, China-Africa trade reached $282.1 billion, marking a historic high for the second consecutive year, said Lin Honghong, director of the Department of International Relations of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, at a press briefing for the FOCAC, on Tuesday.
Additionally, over the past three years, Chinese companies have provided more than 1.1 million jobs in Africa. “These figures fully demonstrate that China-Africa economic and trade cooperation continues to maintain strong momentum,” said Lin.
The zero-tariff policy will lead to more African agricultural products and mineral resources, which are strengths of Africa, entering China, Song said.
At the same time, leveraging e-commerce, the new trade policy will promote the entry of more advantageous Chinese products into Africa, meeting the development needs of Africa, and improving the quality of life of the African people, the Chinese expert said.