The Foreign Minister of Senegal, Aïssata Tall Sall, summed up the feeling among African nations on Tuesday, at the just concluded Forum On China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Dakar.
She told a joint post-summit press conference that the cooperation between China and Africa needed a retouch to encapsulate the desires of all African nations and their respective people.
“Africa and China must now work towards the realization of a new model of South-South cooperation in the service of economic and social progress and a more just and balanced international order,” she stated.
Meetings between Chinese and African leaders have always sounded one-sided; the Chinese announcing big sounding investments and the African leaders hastily running back home to unveil the “largess” to their people. At the end of the day, it all felt like exploitation, whether it’s some Chinese firms awarded massive iron ore mining concessions in Sierra Leone to feed China’s seemingly unquenchable thirst for raw material, without transparency, or reports of a possible Chinese takeover of an airport of an African nation failing to service its debt.
Some people also see FOCAC as one of China’s battlegrounds for world dominance.
This summit revealed a strong desire among African leaders for a shift from that status quo, presenting the partnership as one of the key vehicles through which the continent’s developmental aspirations can be realized, as reflected in the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“We have had very serious debates…We had very frank debates, everyone expressed themselves in the most free way by understanding each other perfectly and adopting in a consensual way the conclusions we reached,” said the Senegalese Foreign Minister, noting that the discussions led to China accepting that FOCAC’s agenda aligns with that of the African Union Agenda and to provide Africa with a favourable framework for working on major regional integration projects designed to promote harmonious and balanced development.
Even at the opening session, when the usual formal statements are coated with diplomatic undertones, African leaders who spoke didn’t mins their words in calling for a review of the relationship.
Host President Macky Sall, who chaired the opening session on Monday, said the relationship between Africa and China should be mutual in both benefits and desires.
“What concerns China should be seen as the concern for Africa and what concerns Africa should be seen as a concern for China,” he said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, while using the platform to vent his displeasure at the show of bias by western countries, in their response to the detection of the latest Covid-19 variant in South Africa, also found time to elaborate on the need for China to increase its infrastructure development projects on the continent.
As for Ukur Yattani Kanacho, Kenya’s Treasury Secretary, his country “believes that FOCAC partners need to focus on ways to ameliorate the Africa-China trade imbalances, boost China-Africa trade and promote a win-win framework through increased exports from Africa,”
The African leaders also urged China to consider debt relief for countries struggling to cope with the aftermath of Covid.
Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, speaking ahead of the summit, weighed in on the growing call from Africans for a win win cooperation.
“What is important for me is a shared future. Our future globally now is so intrinsically interrelated and woven together that if the future of Africa is uncertain, it has implication for the rest of the world,” he said.
Since its formation in 2000, FOCAC has been hosted on four occasions in China and in four Africa nations: first in Ethiopia in 2003, Egypt in 2009, South Africa in 2015 and now Senegal.
The Dakar Summit, the 8th edition, was attended by foreign ministers or representatives, as well as ministers of economy, trade and finance from 53 African countries.
Also in attendance via video link were Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, African Union Commission President Moussa Faki and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres.
The AU Commission President said Covid-19 underscored the need to accelerate development priorities like energy access, education and ICT for sustainable development of the continent.
After reviewing the achievements made in the development of China-Africa relations and China-Africa solidarity in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic since the Beijing Summit of FOCAC in 2018 and deliberating on the implementation of the “eight major initiatives” announced at the Beijing Summit, the Dakar summit adopted four main documents: the Dakar Declaration of the 8th Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC, the Dakar Action Plan (2022-2024), the China-Africa Declaration on Climate Change Cooperation, and the China-Africa Cooperation Vision 2035.
President Xi Jinping’s address details these plans and visions in phases, the first being the one billion vaccine doses and 1,500 medical experts to be deployed in Africa for ten health projects across the continent. There will also be the deployment of 500 Chinese agronomists as part of efforts to set up joint Sino-African centers for exchanges, demonstration and training on modern agricultural technologies in China.
China will also expand product categories to benefit from duty-free, as well debt cancellations and green village projects.
Trade between Africa and China reached over 200 billion dollars in 2019, according to data from the Chinese government.
As per the new pacts, the trade value is expected to reach $300 billion.
According to President Xi, China will open “green corridors” for exports of African agricultural products, speed up the inspection and quarantine procedure and further expand the categories of products benefiting from tariff exemption for least developed countries with diplomatic relations with China.
“China will provide a US$10 billion foreign trade finance line to Africa to support its exports, and establish a China-Africa pilot zone for deep economic and trade cooperation and a China-Africa industrial cooperation park under the Belt and Road Initiative,” the Chinese President said in his statement.
China will also carry out ten green development, environmental protection and climate change projects for Africa, support the development of the Great Green Wall and build demonstration zones in Africa for low-carbon development and adaptation to climate change.
On the political front, which also takes a center stage in every China-Africa dialogue, the two sides agreed to increase the representation and voice of developing countries, including African countries, in international arena, and jointly build a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, equity and justice, and win-win cooperation.
Both sides further agreed to carry forward the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation by telling each other’s stories “well”.
Exchange programmes between young people and women, will continue on both sides and they will seek to protect the interest of each side’s nationals.
According to official reports, the number of outcome documents adopted at this summit surpassed all previous conferences, which the Chinese Foreign Minister described as a reflection of the quality and level of importance China attaches to the cooperation.
“[It] demonstrates the two sides’ firm determination to seek common development, meet challenges and share the opportunities jointly in a new era,” Wang Yi said at Tuesday’s press conference, noting that FOCAC was located on “a new historic starting bridge.”
“[China] is a country that always respects its commitments,” he added, in an apparent assurance of President Xi’s commitments.
On the eve of the summit, the Chinese Foreign Minister held separate meetings with African officials, where individual country priorities were presented.
Senegal sought support for the escalating insecurity in the Sahel region, among others, while Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister, Prof. David Francis, reportedly used the platform to sell his government’s most expensive project at the moment, a major bridge linking the capital Freetown to its only international airport in Lungi. It costs US$ 1.2 billion.
Sierra Leone also lobbied FOCAC’s support for its desire for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for 2023-2024.
