By Ambassador Gert Grobler
“While media headlines around the world were dominated early in the new year by, among other things, frenzied efforts by governments to obtain Covid 19 vaccines, the assault by Trump supporters on American democracy and the European Union still trying to come to grips with Brexit, Africa and China took the time to further actively expand their traditional friendship and cooperation.
The Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, paid a productive visit to five African countries between January 4-9 2021. During this 31st consecutive customary "New Years" visit to Africa by a Chinese Foreign Minister, Minister Wang Yi, stopped off in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Botswana, Tanzania as well as Seychelles.
The visit was a logical follow-up to a series of constructive interactions between Africa and China since Covid 19 began plaguing the world about a year ago which included:
The continued co-operation between Africa and China on combating Covid 19
During this period, in addition to providing medical equipment to virtually all African countries, China sent eight medical teams to sixteen African countries and provided expert assistance to 46 hospitals in 42 African countries.
The “China and Africa Solidarity Summit on Covid 19", was held under the leadership of Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Xi Jinping, on June 2020 17 on which occasion China promised large-scale assistance to Africa with its economic recovery, in the wake of Covid 19. China has since concluded debt relief agreements with 12 African countries and wrote off the Chinese debt in respect of a further 15 countries on the continent. Furthermore, China has played a leading role within the G20 to contribute to the alleviation of Africa's debt obligations.
The African Union and China further signed an agreement on the active promotion of China's comprehensive multi-billion economic, infrastructure and people-to-people exchange project, the “Belt and Road Initiative” in December 2020. This commendable project in which 138 countries (of which 46 are African ) and 31 international organisations including the UN, are currently involved, has the potential to give the global economy a significant boost in the longer term. During Minister Wang's recent visit, both Botswana and the DRC also signed a "Belt and Road Initiative" cooperation agreement with China.
The visit of Minister Wang Yi, therefore, took place against the background of a series of positive developments and his visit was aimed at giving further momentum to its implementation in the interest of strengthened Africa and China relations.
Minister Wang YI was well-received throughout the visit to the 5 African countries. The talks with the leaders of the countries concerned were productive and it was consistently agreed to actively promote bilateral relations between China and the various countries, also in the context of the "Forum for China and Africa Cooperation" (FOCAC) as well as the "Belt and Road Initiative". The discussions yielded several concrete results, which included:
* An undertaking was given by China to further assist the countries visited and Africa as a whole, in combating Covid 19 as well as with affordable and equal access to vaccines. The construction, on behalf of the African Union, of the new Center for Disease Prevention and Control in Addis Ababa, amounting to USD 80 million, has also been announced by China, a project which will commence soon.
* The African leaders of the countries concerned also consistently expressed strong support for China's "One China policy" which implies that these countries support China's approach to the vexed Taiwan issue. In fact, it should be recalled that it was Africa's support that played a key role in facilitating the return of China to the United Nations in 1971.
* In Lagos, President Muhammadu Buhari hailed China as a "strategic partner" and it was agreed during the discussions to activate the Nigeria / China Intergovernmental Committee to give momentum to bilateral cooperation. Seeing that significant potential remains regarding the expansion of trade between Nigeria and China, the two leaders decided to henceforth place a strong emphasis on the enhancement of trade and investment between the two countries as well as to introduce direct flights between Lagos and cities in China.
China pledged its renewed support to the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to promote unity and stability in the country. In this regard, China has announced that it will write off outstanding loans amounting to USD 28 million (about R426bn) to the DRC.
Although China is already involved in 53 infrastructure projects in the DRC, it was decided, as a matter of urgency, to convene the bilateral Joint Committee on Economy and Trade with the aim of further strengthening bilateral economic ties. Furthermore, China will provide support and financial assistance to the DRC in its capacity as the new rotating chair of the African Union during 2021.
* Grobler is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies at the Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.