Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania, South Africa and Congo-Brazzaville immediately after the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference last March. Li Keqiang just concluded his first Africa trip as Chinese premier, visiting Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, and the African Union headquarters from May 4 to 12.
The two high-profile visits in one year fully displayed the current Chinese leadership’s continuous emphasis on developing Sino-African relations and enhancing South-South cooperation. During his visit, Premier Li proposed to actively promote Sino-African collaboration in industry, finance, poverty alleviation, ecological and environmental protection, personnel and cultural exchanges, and peace and security. Each of the six areas has a specific roadmap and overall program, presenting an “upgraded version of Sino-African All-round Cooperation” that is true to its name.
Reading between the lines of Premier Li’s elaboration of the blueprint for the upgraded version of Sino-African cooperation, one can feel the emphasis on “contribution” and “responsibility”.
Every time when I visited Africa, I heard African friends expressing heart-felt praises of and respect for China’s economic achievements and its becoming the world’s second largest economy. Though China remains a developing country in per capita GDP, growing comprehensive national strength allows us to make long-term plans for Sino-African relations from a broader perspective, and contribute more to African development. Li proposed during his visit to try to raise Sino-African trade to around $400 billion by 2020, doubling current volume, and to increase direct investment in Africa from the current $25 billion to $100 billion. Chinese loans to African countries will increase another $10 billion, expanding the promised lending quota to $30 billion. Besides, he pledged to help Africa build networks of high-speed rails, expressways, and regional air transport, realizing the African dream of connecting all African capitals with high-speed rails, facilitating African integration. Undoubtedly, all the six projects and three networks meet African needs. Each of them has created a stir in Africa. And the successful implementation of each will bring tangible changes there, and become a hallmark of Chinese contribution to African development.
While contributing to local progress in Africa and the rest of the world, China, as its national strength grows, must also assume due responsibilities. In the past dozen years, with the rapid expansion of interactions and the diversification of participants in cooperation programs, problems and challenges have emerged along with achievements, which Premier referred to as “growing pains”.
While visiting Angola (where there are 260,000 Chinese citizens, nearly one-fourth of Chinese population in Africa), Li convened a special meeting with representatives of Chinese companies and local Chinese chamber of commerce. While emphasizing government efforts to protect Chinese citizens’ rights and interests overseas and limelight on consular protection, Li also asked Chinese firms to strictly follow laws and rules of resident countries, and assume due responsibilities for project quality, commodity quality, consumer rights and interests, as well as for local communities and environment. In Kenya, he visited the memorial ivory burning site with the Kenyan president, displaying Chinese sincerity and resolution for collaboration in the crackdown on illegal poaching and ivory trafficking. Li also announced a Chinese government aid of $10 million to help Africa promote wild life protection, biodiversity preservation, and sustainable development. Li also vowed to support transfer of labor-intensive industries from China to Africa, localization of Chinese industries, and jobs creation in African countries; and to earmark more than half of Chinese aid for Africa, with special emphasis on such public-welfare programs as poverty alleviation, public health, and disaster prevention.
Such responsibilities also found expression in the inclusiveness of development-aid programs for Africa. Premier Li stated at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit that, with a combined population upwards of 2.3 billion, China and Africa will not only improve livelihoods of their own peoples, but also promote balanced progress of the world economy by enhancing cooperation. This is in itself the greatest inclusive growth the world over. Helping Africa develop, allowing almost one-third of human beings share the fruit of growth through mutually beneficial cooperation, China will contribute tremendously to balanced development of the world economy and humanity’s overall progress. That will be an important manifestation of China’s role as a responsible big country. Li also stated that Chinese cooperation with Africa will follow the principle of “Africa needs, Africa agrees, Africa participates”, and that the formats of cooperation should include three-party and multi-party ones. In fact, China and the United States have conducted several rounds of consultations over cooperation on African development, with topics covering peace and security, peace-keeping, climate change, and humanitarian relief. And the two parties have had preliminary cooperation in peace talks between Sudan and South Sudan, joint operations against Somali pirates, and anti-terror endeavors in Nigeria.
From Li’s Africa trip, we have seen an upgraded version of Sino-African relationship, and felt the strong Chinese sense of responsibility. On its own way to national rejuvenation, China should maintain a balance between “righteousness” and “interest” and be faithful to its moral obligations.
He Wenping is a Senior Fellow at the Chahar Institute and a Research Fellow with the Institute of West Asia and Africa Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
