A New Chapter for China-Africa Cooperation

by Anita Yin

On September 3， 2018， Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation （FOCAC）. In the speech， Xi announced that China would implement eight major initiatives， including expanding imports from Africa， for the next three years and beyond to build a closer community with a shared future for China and Africa.

Injecting Certainty

The international community is facing major strategic uncertainties. While U.S. President Donald Trump made the “America First” doctrine his governing concept， great uncertainty still exists as to how the idea will be put into practice further. Brexit talks have reached a disturbing deadlock， leaving the possibility that Britain will walk away with no deal. Currencies of some emerging economies， Turkey and Argentina in particular， have plummeted， making prospects for their economic development unclear. At the same time， China and Africa are facing their own respective uncertainties. Against this backdrop， the 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit outlined clear plans for mid- and long-term cooperation strategies between China and Africa that will inject certainty into the current global landscape.

“The eight major action plans in President Xis speech are all substantial，” opines Zhang Chun， director and research fellow at the Institute for Foreign Policy Studies under the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. “For example， helping Africas capacity-building has become an independent part of the action plans even though we were already focused on it. And now China-Africa institutes will be built. I think this step is very important for people-to-people exchange between China and Africa. Additionally， China has decided to set up a China-Africa peace and security fund to boost cooperation on security， peacekeeping， and law and order. I think this is a great leap of Chinas provision of global public goods， especially in the security arena.”

This FOCAC summit has also provided new ideas for transformation of the international system. China endeavors to become an innovation-oriented nation under the framework of the international system. During this process， a key issue that needs to be pondered over and addressed remains that of whether the rise of a major country benefits or harms the international community. Across human history， developing countries have often fallen victim to rising great powers. Relatively recently， the slave trade and colonial wars offered grim proof. The 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit marked an important step for China to become an innovation-oriented nation under the framework of the international system， which will ensure developing countries are the greatest beneficiaries of Chinas rise.