The sum of all things

China poses no threat to Africa, but rather offers more growth for trade

Chinese President Xi Jinping's strong commitment to promote mutually beneficial cooperation with Africa has once again demonstrated the importance that the new leadership attaches to China-Africa relations, as well as to the cooperation among emerging economies such as among the BRICS nations

In his speech at the Julius Nyerere International Convention Center in Dar es Salaam, President Xi said Africa is in a new era of hope and development, and the African lion is galloping. He vowed that China will intensify, not weaken, its efforts to develop relations with Africa, and that China will always be sincere with its African friends.

Xi's visit to Africa, which included stopovers in Tanzania, South Africa and the Republic of the Congo, also had three important messages.

Although Africa has gone through several complicated and profound changes, such as the civil war in Cote d'Ivoire, the South Sudan independence struggle, a war in Libya, the North African turmoil, and civil wars in Mali and the Central African Republic, China still remains confident on African development.

Second, based on optimism and confidence in the African situation and its future development, China will continue strengthening and advancing its relationship with Africa.

Third, China's policy toward Africa will continue to be based on sincerity, friendship, and cooperation with less empty talk and more practical work.

Evidence of this was visible in the more than 40 cooperative agreements signed by President Xi with African nations covering development assistance, financial and investment cooperation, and vocational human resources training. Most of the agreements are closely related to overall development and improvement of the living standards of Africans.

For example, during Xi's visit to Tanzania, the two sides signed bilateral agreements for several infrastructure projects, including the construction of a modern port at Bagamoyo with an investment of $10 billion, and a total budget comparable with that of Tazara Railway. The project will be comprehensive, with a distribution center, a development area, and other facilities. After completion, it is expected to be an important port and trading hub that will link Tanzania with China, the Middle East, and Europe.

In the past decade, with the robust institutional platform of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the relationship between the two sides has grown rapidly. China and Africa have not only exchanged frequent high-level visits, enhanced communication and cooperation in international affairs; but also developed and consolidated cooperation and exchanges in the fields of national security, economy, trade, finance, science, culture, education, human resources training and people-to-people exchanges.

In terms of closer economic relations in particular, the trade volume between China and Africa was more than $200 billion in 2012, compared with $10 billion in 2000. China surpassed the United States to become Africa's largest trading partner in 2009. China's direct investment in Africa was less than $500 million just 10 years ago, and as of April last year it had grown to $15.3 billion. There are more than 2,000 Chinese enterprises in Africa investing in projects covering trade, production and processing, resource development, transport and agriculture.

China's aid projects have also benefited more than 50 countries throughout Africa. So far, China has provided assistance for the construction of more than 2,000 kilometers of railways, more than 3,000 kilometers of roads, more than 100 schools, and more than 60 hospitals, and reduced and cancelled debts of more than 20 billion yuan ($3.2 billion).

The rapid growth in the bilateral relationship has also been the result of concerted effort and hard work by both sides. Even though it is often observed through the Western media's magnifying lens, and attacked as a form of Chinese neo-colonialism, the China-Africa relationship has moved steadily and rapidly forward despite interferences. This is because both China and Africa regard one another as offering development opportunities and underpinning their respective external strategies. In other words, China needs Africa, and vice versa.

It is a widely held view among African friends that the development of China poses no threat to Africa, but rather offers important opportunities for its development. They believe that in the extraction of natural resources in Africa, China differs from the West by providing infrastructure construction and a large investment as an exchange. The rapid growth of China in the past three decades has convinced them that Africa should no longer view the European and US model as the sole solution. Africa must strengthen its economic relations and trade with China and other emerging economies so as to grow with them. Chinese participation in African affairs is also seen as the newest historic opportunity, perhaps the last one, for African development, which Africa must seize rather than miss out on.

Since the mid-1990s, African economies have started stabilizing. In eight of the past 10 years, six of the world's 10 fastest-growing countries were African. However, because of the continent's colonial history, many African economies were closely linked with Western markets, so the African economy suffered a heavy setback in 2009 during the financial crisis, with the average economic growth rate dropping below 2 percent. However, with the help of China and other emerging nations, although North African countries have experienced sluggish economic growth because of political and social turmoil, the continent as a whole maintained an average economic growth rate of about 5 percent in 2011 and 2012, which is roughly the same as that of Asia.

It is worth mentioning that Africa's rapid recovery in the aftermath of the financial crisis and the North African unrest was a result of its closer economic and trade ties with China and the other BRICS countries. For example, over the past decade the BRICS countries have contributed more than 50 percent of the global economic growth, and they have promoted the development of the African continent through trade and investment, making a great contribution to poverty reduction in Africa and the development of African economies.

According to a report released in February by the Standard Bank of South Africa, BRICS-Africa trade has grown faster than BRICS trade with any other region. The BRICS countries' total trade with Africa reached $340 billion in 2012, a more than tenfold increase over the decade. It is projected that BRICS-Africa trade will surpass $500 billion by 2015, roughly 60 percent of which will be China-Africa trade.

During President Xi's visit to Africa, he reiterated that China would provide $20 billion in credit to help African countries develop infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing, and small and medium-sized enterprises. With China's increasing comprehensive national strength, it will continue to strengthen its development assistance to Africa without any political strings attached.

Today the Chinese people share the dream of realizing national rejuvenation, and African people also share the dream of poverty reduction and development. Only by establishing a partnership of complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation can the people of both sides realize their dreams.

The author is a senior research fellow of the Chahar Institute, and director of the African Research Section with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.