In Africa, China eyes minerals and UN clout
China intends to challenge India’s narrative about being the voice of the Global South.
China’s Forum with Africa (FOCAC) was a success, with 53 of the 55 countries of the African Union participating. The two that did not were Eswatini and the Sahrawi Arab Republic, both of which have no diplomatic relations with China. Though many African countries complained about summit fatigue, with a spate of recently concluded ones and more scheduled shortly ahead, all but the two turned up in Beijing.
This shows the sway China holds over a large swathe of Africa, wooing and being wooed by it. China advances an image of itself as a developing country seeking South-South cooperation. Through this, it intends to challenge India’s narrative about being the voice of the Global South. Beijing is clear that it doesn’t want Delhi to walk off with that mantle.
China has announced that $59 billion is earmarked for ten partnership programmes to be implemented in Africa. The nomenclature of some is intriguing — “mutual learning among civilizations” — but there are others that are conventional (green economy, development and supply chain collaboration, connectivity, healthcare, etc).
Africa wants Chinese funds for development but doesn’t want further debt stress. Of the $59 billion in Chinese funding, $30 billion will be regular loans, and the remainder will be interest-free loans and grants. On top of that, there would be $10 billion of FDI by Chinese companies in the continent. This is akin to earlier Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) commitments. Between 2000 and 2023, Chinese financial institutions lent $182.28 billion to 49 African countries and seven regional DFIs, according to an analysis by Boston University researchers.
African leaders have spoken to China about the trade imbalance. China is Africa’s largest trading partner but has a surplus of $63.5 billion. African leaders seek better access to the Chinese markets for African products, by adding value to minerals and resources that China acquires from African sources.
China has announced that it will allow tariff-free imports from African Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to help their exports. India announced such a duty-free tariff preference scheme for all African LDCs in 2008. There has been significant Indian FDI in African countries for products India needs, with the maximum impact seen in agro-processing. Will China channel its FDI into such buy-back arrangements? China’s main economic partners in Africa however are not the LDCs.
Beijing’s pursuit is more BRI projects, despite the poor run in implementing already contracted ones. BRI projects in Africa often do not build local capacities or provide local companies with subcontracting. They cause debt stress to the host country. However, the latter find it difficult to borrow from others and thus return to China. Weak regulatory capacity in several African countries makes borrowing and repayments a difficult task. Most Chinese loans are compounded by restrictive options for restructuring.
At the same time, Africa has newer alternatives emerging and can leverage them for better deals from China, since the latter clearly sees Africa as a battleground in its global rivalry with the United States.
China will expand its Global Security Initiative by providing military cooperation funding to select African countries for training and capacity building. African troops are expected to visit China under this programme. Joint exercises and patrols are also on the table. China is seeking to follow the tradition of Russia stepping into countries from where Western partners, mainly France, have exited. Unlike Russia’s para-military option, China is offering a capacity-building approach to acquire military influence in target countries.
As China moves on an “all-weather China-Africa community”, it will prioritise African preferences laid out in Agenda 2063. Yet, by working mainly bilaterally, China seeks more access to critical minerals and resources while expanding its reach for national, prestige and African votes in UN bodies.
Gurjit Singh is a former Indian ambassador to the African Union and is honorary professor, IIT Indore. The views are personal
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