China and Africa united by a common destiny

Representatives attend the closing ceremony of the Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, Dec. 5, 2015.

History tells us that Africa’s relations with China go way back to the Ming Dynasty. However, more recently, formal political relations were established in 1949 which coincided with Africa claiming its independence from its colonisers. China and Africa have solid relations with each having a common vision for a world that is prosperous and developed and where both can play a meaningful role in global political and economic governance.

In the 21 century, relations between Africa and China have become deeper and more formal through the China-Africa Forum for Cooperation. The first Summit was hosted by China in 2006, and in 2015, South Africa has hosted the second Summit in Johannesburg.

The African Union Commission Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has described our relations succinctly when she said, “the relationship between ourselves and China is founded on four basic principles: treating each other sincerely and equally; consolidating solidarity and mutual trust; jointly pursuing inclusive development; and promoting inventive practical cooperation between our countries.”

During FOCAC, relations between China and Africa were further strengthened with the adoption of the Declaration of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation. Most importantly FOCAC ended with the finalisation of a Strategic Vision for Win-win Cooperation.

The Declaration is based on the five major pillars that characterise relations between Africa and China: political equality and mutual trust, win-win economic cooperation, mutually enriching cultural exchanges, mutual assistance in security, and solidarity and coordination in international affairs. Both sides further agreed to leverage their social and political capital – enhanced by their combined population of 2.3 billion people – to advocate for the reformation of the global political and economic governance architecture.

To achieve this successfully however, African countries and China must have the required levels of development of their own economies. The implementation of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation Johannesburg Action Plan 2016-2018 will go a long way towards ensuring growth and development of African countries with the support of China.

The Action Plan includes targeted cooperation plans over the next three years in the areas of industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, infrastructure construction, financial services, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction and public welfare, public health, people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security. The scope of the increased co-operation is included hereunder:

China-Africa Industrialisation Plan: China will build or upgrade a number of industrial parks and set up regional vocational education centres and schools for capacity building. China will also train 200 000 technical personnel and provide 40 000 training opportunities for Africans in China.

China-Africa Agriculture Modernisation: China will transfer readily applicable technologies to Africa and will encourage Chinese enterprises to engage in large-scale farming, animal husbandry as well as grain storage and processing in Africa to create jobs.

China-Africa Infrastructure Plan: China will pursue mutually beneficial co-operation in infrastructure planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance, particularly in the sectors of railway, road, regional aviation, ports, electricity and telecommunications. China will also support the establishment of five transportation universities in Africa.

China-Africa Green Development Plan: China will increase capacity for green, low-carbon and sustainable development in Africa which will include support in launching 100 projects to develop clean energy, protect wildlife and build smart cities.

China-Africa Trade and Investment Facilitation Plan: China will undertake 50 trade programmes to improve Africa’s capacity for internal and external trade and investment and will negotiate free trade agreements with countries and regional organisations and increase the import of African products.

China-Africa Poverty Reduction Plan: China will cancel outstanding debt in the form of zero-interest loans borrowed by least developed countries in Africa that mature at the end of 2015.

China-Africa Public Health Plan: China will support the building of the African centre for disease control and increase co-operation between 20 Chinese and African hospitals.

China-Africa Cultural and People-People Exchange: China will build five cultural centres in Africa and provide satellite reception to 10 000 African villages. China will also sponsor 2 000 educational opportunities with diplomas/degrees and 30 000 government scholarships.

China-Africa Peace and Security Plan: China will provide grants worth US$60 million (R865.64m) to support the building and operation of the African Standby Force and the African capacity for the immediate response to crisis.

China will provide additional funding support to the implementation of the above plans: US$5bn of grant and zero-interest loans, US$35bn of loans of concessional nature on more favourable terms and export credit line, an increase of US$5bn to the China-Africa Development Fund and the Special Loan for the development of African small and medium-sized enterprises, and the China-Africa Fund for Production Capacity Co-operation with the initial contribution of US$10bn.

The implementation of these agreements will see the continent moving towards the vision of a prosperous, developed and integrated Africa as envisaged by Agenda 2063.