President Xi welcomes African leaders to China’s biggest summit in years

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted more than two dozen African leaders at a banquet in Beijing on Wednesday, kicking off the city’s biggest summit in years with promises of cooperation on infrastructure, energy and education.

China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent’s vast wealth of natural resources, including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also provided African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure, but also at times fueled conflict, loading governments with huge debts.

Twenty-five African leaders have arrived in Beijing or confirmed their attendance at this week’s China-Africa forum, according to an AFP count, including some whose countries face a growing risk of debt distress.

Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan welcomed guests as they arrived for a sumptuous dinner at the Great Hall of the People on Wednesday afternoon, according to live AFP footage.

There was also a “family” photo of the assembled leaders, and Xi will deliver a speech at the opening ceremony on Thursday morning.

Chinese state media praised Xi this week as a “true friend of Africa”, arguing that Beijing’s ties have reached “new heights” under his administration.

The Chinese leader held talks with more than a dozen African counterparts in Beijing by Wednesday, according to state media.

Xi called during a meeting on Tuesday with President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria – one of China’s biggest borrowers on the continent – for greater cooperation in “infrastructure, energy and mineral resource development”, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

He also promised cooperation in “investment, trade, infrastructure, mineral resources” and other areas during talks the same day with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Xi supported Zimbabwe in its fight against “illegal sanctions” imposed by the United States in response to corruption and human rights abuses by the country’s leadership.

Geopolitical concerns

Analysts say Beijing’s magnanimity toward Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic problems at home, and that geopolitical concerns over a growing conflict with the United States may increasingly drive policy.

“Deepening economic engagement with Africa around the world” is one of Beijing’s key goals this week, Zeinab Usman, director of the Africa Program at Carnegie for International Peace, told AFP.

“In certain areas, even where such expanded engagement may not make economic sense, it will be driven by geopolitical considerations,” he said.

One goal may be to limit the growing trade imbalance between China and Africa by increasing imports of agricultural goods and processed minerals, Usman said.

“Meeting these African demands is in China’s geopolitical interest to keep them on their side in the dispute with the US.”

For their part, African leaders are likely to seek support for big-ticket items, as they have done in the past, but are also putting more emphasis on debt sustainability, analysts say.

The recent deadly protests in Kenya were sparked by the government’s need “to service its debt to international creditors, including China,” said Alex Vines, head of the Africa program at London’s Chatham House.

Vines and other analysts expect African leaders at this week’s forum to seek not only more Chinese investment but also more soft loans in light of such developments.