Chinese leader Xi Jinping will host over two dozen African leaders at a lavish dinner in Beijing, kicking off the city’s biggest summit in years with promises of co-operation in infrastructure, energy and education.
China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap continent’s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals. It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.
Twenty-five African leaders have arrived in Beijing or confirmed attendance at this week’s China-Africa forum, according to an AFP tally, including some whose countries face a rising risk of debt distress.
The forum kicked off yesterday evening with a family photo and a lavish dinner in the Great Hall of the People — followed by an opening ceremony at which Xi will deliver a speech the next day. Chinese state media has this week lauded Xi as a “true friend of Africa”, claiming Beijing’s ties were reaching “new heights” under his stewardship.
As of yesterday, the Chinese leader had held talks with over a dozen African counterparts in Beijing, a tally of state media reporting showed.
Meeting Tuesday with Bola Tinubu, president of Nigeria — one of China’s biggest borrowers on the continent — Xi called for great co-operation in the “development of infrastructure, energy and mineral resources”, state news agency Xinhua said.
And in talks with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa that same day, he promised co-operation in “investment, trade, infrastructure, mineral resources” and others.
He also backed Zimbabwe in its struggle against “illegal sanctions” - imposed by the United States in response to corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s leadership.
Analysts say that Beijing’s largesse towards the continent is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home.
China’s President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan (front third left) pose for a group photograph with leaders from African nations ahead of a dinner reception during the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, yesterday.
