2018年CRI Potentials of China-Africa economic ties seen after FOCAC Beijing summit

Responding to the eight major initiatives on China-Africa cooperation announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the now-concluded 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum 1 on China-Africa Cooperation, numerous African ambassadors in Washington say they see potential of deepening economic partnerships 2 with China.

Diplomats 3 from China and more than 30 African countries have attended a reception in Washington celebrating the FOCAC 2018 Beijing Summit.

Many of the African ambassadors have spoken highly of the achievements made during the summit, saying it reaffirms their confidence in a strong relationship with China.

Guinea was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to establish diplomatic relations with China.

The country's Ambassador to the US, Kerfalla Yansané, says ties between the two sides have been developing very well over the years, suggesting President Xi Jinping's speech in Beijing represents something new in China-Africa cooperation.

"We have always been friends, but now with the perspective of President Xi Jinping this cooperation is at a new level. And his views on international cooperation are also very realistic: to balance international governance to ensure that African countries and China working together for a win-win cooperation," says Yansane.

As part of his address to the FOCAC, President Xi Jinping announced Chinese plans to implement 4 eight major initiatives with African countries in the next three years and beyond, covering fields such as industrial promotion 5, infrastructure 6 connectivity, trade facilitation, and green development.

He also pledged an additional 60 billion US dollars’ worth of financing to African countries.

At the Washington reception, African diplomats have suggested the new policies not only provide support for exising programs, but also ways to potentially diversify 7 economic partnerships.

Gabon's Ambassador to the US, Michael Moussa-Adamo says African countries need to move away from their reliance on raw natural resource exports.

He says China has a lot of experience to offer in this area.

"You have to remember that in Africa today a lot of natural resources are taken out raw and there's no value added. So we can learn from China and other Asian countries how they were able to develop the countries on the Asian continent since 1960s. We have a lot to learn. We can learn that from the Chinese, how they did it in the past, the knowhow and the technology," says the ambassador.

Before his ambassadorship appointment, Kerfalla Yansané served as central bank governor, as well as the Minister of Finance in Guinea, giving him extensive experience in China-Guinea economic cooperation.

He says the current transition of the Chinese economy represents significant opportunities for Africa.

"My views on China are that for the last 30 years China was relying on export. But now China has a growing middle class so the wages are rising. China has to pay more attention to internal market than to the outside. This means that China may not be able to hold some traditional industries anymore and may have to outsource them to Africa where the labor 8 price is still very low. So it means in this transition Africa could be a good partner for China given the fact that we have raw resources and manpower," says Yansane.

Kerfalla Yansané also says China's policy of further opening-up is acting 9 as a bulwark 10 against a global trend toward protectionism.

"China is trying to be more open. If China has a partner like Africa—a market of more than 1 billion people—this should be a very important force in the future. And then both will be able to influence the way world affairs are going," says Yansane.

The reception in Washington has been jointly 11 hosted by Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai, Gabonese Ambassador Michael Moussa-Adamo, and Serge Mombouli, Ambassador of the Republic of Congo and Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps 12.