Xi Jinping pledges more help to Africa in both industrial and agriculture sectors

In November, China will host the second forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Agriculture on the Chinese island province of Hainan.

To tackle the food crisis in some African countries, especially in the Horn of Africa, China will provide additional food emergency assistance.

“China has confidence that Africa will attain food self-sufficiency through its own efforts,” Xi said.

The remarks reflect a shift from the past decade, when China pumped billions of dollars through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) into mega projects like as ports, railways, highways and power dams.

But critics have also accused China of importing more raw minerals, which has created an unhealthy trade imbalance in China’s favour – which explains why nations including Zimbabwe, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, each with significant deposits of lithium, are banning the export of raw battery minerals and instead want to process those minerals locally.

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Agriculture, though, has lately emerged as the new focus of China’s engagement with Africa, and Beijing has promised to import more food products from the continent, including avocados, cashews, sesame seeds and chilli peppers.

For instance, in May, China through the state-owned trader Cofco Group imported corn from South Africa in a bid to diversify its global sources of grain. China has been heavily dependent on the US and Ukraine for more than 90 per cent of its corn imports.

Yun Sun, director of the China programme at the Stimson Centre in Washington, told the South China Morning Post earlier this year that African agricultural products had caught China’s attention partly because “the past focus on hard infrastructure is no longer viable”.

This is also part of Beijing’s broader strategy to implement Xi’s promise to increase non-resource imports from Africa. During the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Senegal in 2021, Xi promised to open up “green lanes” for African agricultural products, speed inspection and quarantine, and waive more tariffs so that imports could hit US$300 billion by 2025.

Besides allowing the importation of certain agricultural products from Africa, Beijing dropped 98 per cent of tariffs on products from more than a dozen African countries.

China also expressed its support for the African Union to become a full member of the Group of 20, in a joint statement released at the end of the meeting.

The statement said that Africa welcomed China’s support for the continent’s industrialisation, talent development and Africa’s agricultural modernisation.

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Further, it said China and Africa cooperation should draw attention to the strengthening of existing global institutional mechanisms to ensure the participation of developing countries, thus allowing for inclusiveness and global trust.

“The long outstanding issue of reform of multilateral financial institutions and the United Nations Security Council should be addressed,” the joint statement noted.

During the meeting on Thursday, President Xi also promised to develop Africa’s talent, especially in vocational training. China plans to train 500 principals and teachers for vocational colleges and 10,000 technical personnel with both Chinese language and vocational skills for Africa every year.

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China will invite 20,000 government officials and technicians from African countries to participate in workshops and seminars, Xi said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who co-chaired the meeting, said that China’s BRI had resulted in new road, rail, port and energy investments on the continent. He said infrastructure investment fostered innovation and productivity, lowers transaction costs and would improve Africa’s integration and connectivity.

Ramaphosa called the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) central to growth on the continent; China has promised to fund the operations of its secretariat.

“In supporting the effective implementation of the AfCFTA, cooperation between China and Africa should promote investment, facilitate the development of value chains and boost mutual capacity to produce and export value-added manufactured products,” Ramaphosa said.

He said support for industrialisation should include enhanced support for micro, small and medium enterprises and the informal economy.

South China Morning Post