Sino-african Ties in the Fast Lane

10 Sino-african events in 2015

THE year 2015 is undoubtedly a milestone in Sino-african relations. In the beginning of the year, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Africa, maintaining China’s tradition in diplomacy that the foreign minister’s first trip abroad in a new year should be to Africa. The countries he visited on the continent were Kenya, Sudan, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Wang also participated in the special consultation in support of the South Sudan peace process led by the African trade bloc Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). He put forward China’s initiative on promoting the peace process, which enhanced the pace of Chinese participation in helping African countries resolve conflicts and usher in peace.

At the year-end, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Zimbabwe and South Africa, and planned the future development of China-africa cooperation with

African leaders at the Second Summit of the Forum on China-africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Johannesburg Summit, the first FOCAC summit held in Africa after the Beijing Summit in October 2006, endorsed the Johannesburg Declaration of FOCAC and the FOCAC Johannesburg Action Plan (2016-18), propelling Sino-african relations into the fast lane with its “1+5+10” framework. The one in the framework stands for new positioning, namely, upgrading the new type of China-africa strategic partnership into a comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership. China and Africa, which have become strategic pivots for each other, will support each other in the future in adversity. Five stands for five major pillars: political equality and mutual trust, promoting win-win economic cooperation, having mutually enriching cultural exchanges, mutual assistance in security, and solidarity and coordination in international affairs. The last element in the framework and the most arresting indicates the 10 China-africa cooperation plans to be implemented with Chinese funding support of $60 billion. The plans cover industrialization, agricultural modernization, infrastructure, financial cooperation, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction, public health, cultural and people-to-people exchanges, and peace and security.

The 10 cooperation plans are based on Agenda 2063, the blueprint of the African Union (AU) to guide Africa’s development in the coming 50 years. The plans will be guided by the principles that they will meet Africa’s needs, will have Africa’s consent, and will benefit Africa. Their aim will be to address the three bottlenecks holding back Africa’s development - inadequate infrastructure, lack of professional and skilled personnel, and funding shortage. Each plan will have Chinese financial, technical or material support and will provide a strong development impetus to future China-africa cooperation. Under the “1+5+10” framework, China-africa relations will enter a new development era.