President Xi renews commitment to foster Sino-African ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) holds talks with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe in Harare, Zimbabwe, Dec 1, 2015. [Photo by Huang Jingwen/Xinhua]

The visit of President Xi Jinping of China, the world's second largest and fastest growing developing economy, symbolizes a renewed commitment to the country and injects new life in fostering and promoting the friendship and solidarity that has been in existence for a period of over five decades.

The traditional friendship between China and Africa started in the early 1950s and cut across social ties, economy, bilateral trade, investment, culture, security and diplomatic cooperation. This friendly bond was indicated by the 2014 International Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) response in West Africa, with China being the first committed player in the fight to combat the Ebola virus in West Africa; the virus caused a devastating negative ramification on the health sector, socio-economic and the cultural-traditional fabric in the region.

Not only has China poured in millions of dollars into the Ebola virus-affected countries, running to $120 million, but also sent in a team of medical personnel who braved it in our local communities and sent two chartered planes carrying a China Center for Disease Control and Prevention laboratory team and a China-Aided Mobile Laboratory. These supported the fight against Ebola in a bid to help save humanity and sustain human livelihood.

China's strategic position in Africa's development, especially in the last two decades, has been extremely beneficial, especially in strengthening the Sino-African relationship and in giving it a new life. Africa's quest to achieve stable and sustainable development and more investment in the fields of trade, infrastructure and a host of others has taken center stage in the continent's strategic thinking framework. In this vein, China has been a leading player in engaging Africa for trade and investments.

Author: Allieu Badara Kabia

China-Africa trade and investment has rapidly expanded over the past three decades and has displayed a remarkable amount of diversity across the African continent. Total merchandise trade increased from $9 billion in 2000 to over $200 billion in 2014 and is expected to reach $400 billion by 2020, making China Africa's largest trade partner. Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows also increased from $200 million in 2000 to $30 billion in 2014, with plans to scale that up to $100 billion by 2020. This will turn China into the largest developing country investor in Africa. Chinese aid initiatives also increased remarkably in the last decade.

Africa's growth performance has improved significantly compared to the two decades of negative growth rates in 1980s and 1990s.The significant improvement in Africa's growth status ultimately causes the GDP per capita to grow by an annual average of 2.4 % from 2000 to 2009, while the growth rate in 2010-2012 amounted to 1.8% .

Albeit the gains made, Africa is still fraught with difficulties and challenges, including inadequate infrastructure, lack of quality human capital, a broken health system, lack of sufficient food and liquidity shortages. For Africa to develop sustainably it needs the full support of China to transform its economies into industrialization, capital injection, modern agricultural mechanization, public health systems and policies, improved surveillance and prevention systems. It also needs to revamp other dormant sectors in the economy to meet the desired output that will gear it towards job creation, improved infrastructures, increased household/firm income and national income.Access to funds will ultimately grow the respective economies and create the platform for sustainable human livelihood and a better standard of living for the African people.

The current visit of President Xi in Africa reassures and spurs the continent for a continual need for both parties to work towards redoubling efforts to draw up a robust blueprint for promoting cooperation and laying a solid foundation for making new and greater progress in growing this bond.

The author is PhD Research Fellow in School of Economics and Business of Liaoning University.