At the turn of the 21st century, precisely from October 10 – 12, 2000, the first ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Beijing, following earlier consultations. Nearly 100 ministers from China and 44 African countries were in attendance. A joint declaration at the end of the conference among other things explained that the two sides were ‘highly appreciative of the stable development of Sino-Africa relations over the past decades, have full confidence in the future cooperation and agree that there exists a solid foundation for friendly relations and cooperation between China and Africa, given their time-honoured traditional friendship’.
Twenty-five years later, the trajectories of China-Africa cooperation have justified the optimism expressed at the inaugural conference that the two sides ‘have full confidence in the future cooperation’, even as they agreed ‘that there exists a solid foundation’, for such cooperation, nurtured by ‘their time-honoured traditional friendship’.
China-Africa cooperation even before the founding of the FOCAC process has time-honoured pedigree. From 1967, China set out to construct in Zambia and Tanzania, the nearly 2,000km railway line, offered an interest-free loan to cover costs of constructing the line and supporting infrastructure of stations and training school as well as the supply of motive power and rolling stock. The interest-free loan was repayable according to the agreement in 30 years.
The proposal for the project, later dubbed the freedom line or Tazara railways was outrightly rejected by major Western powers then, and even the former Soviet Union as economically unviable. China accepted to build it and duly completed in 1974.
In 1971, 26 African countries including Nigeria were among 76 other countries in the world that voted in the UN General Assembly to enable China regain her seat at the United Nations and provided the subsisting international consensus that there is only ‘One China’ in the world, and that Taiwan is an inalienable and integral part of China’s sovereign expression and territorial integrity.
The vigorous exchanges and mutual support were the basis for the time-honoured traditional friendship between China and Africa and consequently formed the ‘solid foundation’, on which the FOCAC process was built. The point need to be made that despite the phenomenal growth in China-Africa cooperation especially at the turn of the 21st century, with the establishment of FOCAC, the relationship is neither new nor transactional as some commentators want to describe it. It is rooted in traditional friendship and solidarity shaped by common experience of colonial domination and imperialist exploitation but more importantly a shared aspiration of social and economic well beings for their respective peoples.
In her traditional support for infrastructure construction, which began with the Tazara railway, China within the framework of the FOCAC mechanism further energised and reinforced by the Belt and Road framework for international cooperation have helped Africa to build and renovate more than 10,000 kilometres of railways, about 100,00km of roads, more than 1,000 bridges and nearly 100 ports.
Among the major infrastructure projects, includes the first transnational electrified railway line between Ethiopia and Djibouti, spanning over 750km and have significantly reduced both the time and cost of travel between the Ethiopia industrial heartland and the Djibouti port, the Mombassa-Nairobi standard gauge railway in Kenya, and the Lekki Deep Sea port in Lagos. The Lekki Deep Seaport with estimated economic benefits of about $360 billion would also create about 170,000 new jobs.
These are few among the many infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa built by China in the elaborate framework of the cooperation between the two sides. The projects respond to the original deficit in the struggle for Pan African Unity, a challenge taken up at the meeting of the defunct Organization of Africa Union (OAU) at its special session at Lagos, in 1980. The vision of continental connectivity and industrial take-off contained in the iconic document, Lagos Plan of Action’ was immediately countered by the World Bank and vitiated by lack of political will but has through the framework of the FOCAC process returned to the earlier blueprint with ‘Africa engaging more with herself through connectivity and trade than at any other time in her post-colonial history.
Economic and Trade cooperation have emerged as the flagship of the engagement between the two sides. For 16 years in a straight row, China has been Africa’s largest trading partner with the volume reaching a record of 295.74 billion USD in 2024, an increase of 6.1% from the previous year. Since the establishment of FOCAC in 2000, the trade volume between China and African countries have risen with average annual growth of 14.2%, rising from meagre 13.94 billion US dollars to the current record level.
More importantly, the structure of trade which previously revolved around export of Africa energy and mineral resources and imports of China’s manufactures are shifting in favour of high value-added sectors such mechanical and electrical products, digital services and green technologies. In 2024, African countries exports of processed agricultural products to China demonstrating strength in agro-processing and manufacturing significantly increased. China’s exports to Africa which includes photovoltaic modules, industrial robots and smart phones showed remarkable boost.
In overall, the shift in China-Africa trade towards diversification, higher value-added and technology intensive sector is becoming increasingly significant. Additionally, Chinese investments in the manufacturing, agro-processing sector energy and digital economy is scaling up Africa’s industrialization with cumulative investment that reached $42.12 billion, with nearly Chinese 3,300 operating in 51 African countries . To give greater impetus to Africa’s access to the Chinese market, the Chinese side instituted the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, specifically designated to give products from Africa’s exposure to China’s huge market.
At this year’s 4th edition of the Expo, 176 contracts worth $11.39 billion were signed, a 45.8% increase to the previous edition of the Expo held in 2023. In addition to existing mechanism for concessional access of African products to the Chinese market, China proposed last June as a part of the implementation of Ten Partnership Action Plan, outlined by President Xi Jinping at the heads of State Summit of FOCAC held in 2024, to grant zero tariff treatment on 100% of tariff lines for exports from 53 African countries with diplomatic ties.
Since the creation of FOCAC in 2000, it has propelled bilateral cooperation of the two sides into a phase of rapid, comprehensive and stable development. In addition to the creation of multiple cooperation mechanism and trade facilitation initiatives, it has enabled a long term institutional support for China-Africa relations.
While China-Africa engagements at different levels are well known for tangible outcomes and deliverable, it is also fostering values through mutual learnings and governance experience sharing. Through the FOCAC process, inter-party consultations and civilizational dialogues are gaining momentum, and bridging the geographical gaps between the two sides.
The China-Africa journey within the framework of the FOCAC process is still a work in progress despite the crucial milestones it has reached. At the Beijing summit of last year, President Xi Jinping proposed to characterize China-Africa as ‘all-weather China-Africa community with a shared future for a new era’.
More than 60 years ago, when the Chinese Venerable Premier, Zhou Enlai visited Africa, in Ghana he outlined the eight principles of China’s support and assistance to Africa. Among the eight principles, the forth explained that ‘in providing aid to other countries, the purpose of the Chinese government is not to make the recipient countries dependent on China but to help them embark step by step on the road to self-reliance and independent economic development’. This position is as valid today as it was, more than six decades ago, when it was pronounced on African soil.
The historic imperative for Africa is to meet China half way in the open brotherly embrace and make the opportunity of China to contribute to the concrete advantage of Africa’s renaissance, with FOCAC as the mutual roadmap.