Practical application

African countries are pursuing win-win cooperation with China despite the attempts of the West to derail the partnerships

Africa's relationship with Western powers remains ambiguous. The latter's post-colonial approach in Africa is utterly patronizing. In fact, Western powers are reasserting their domination of the African continent under the pretext of defending it against effective cooperation undertaken by emerging powers, notably China. But at the same time, Western powers are not helping Africa develop in its own way. Their approach in Africa remains militarist: Provoke proxy wars in countries rich in natural resources based on geopolitical and geostrategic competition. During these wars, millions of Africans are killed while Western powers and their multinational corporations reap the benefits in terms of the exploitation of natural and mineral resources on the African continent. What's more, the West often provokes wars in countries of the Global South where China has invested heavily.

The most acute challenges the Global South in general, and Africa in particular, face are developmental in nature, including the lack of capacity building to mitigate these challenges. China therefore brings a developmental approach to Africa. The Chinese path to modernization is a path of peaceful development and common prosperity and is seen by Africans as a better alternative to that of the West.

Generally, the Chinese path to modernization is understood as being based on domestic reform and opening-up to the rest of the world. This is conducive to promoting high-quality development that focuses on boosting domestic demand, technologically advanced industries, ecological protection, and creating a more equitable society. The Chinese path to modernization challenges the notion of modernization being akin to Westernization and offers an alternative to the developing world.

The 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation has proved that China is ready to help Africa explore its own modernization path as an equal partner. This resonates well with the national development priorities of many African countries which reckon that China simply seeks the development of Africa without the conditions that are typically attached to Western aid.

Since the inaugural summit of the FOCAC in 2000, China has committed to constructing infrastructure projects such as highways, ports and railways to African countries. In addition, as of September, 52 of 54 African countries had signed on to the Belt and Road Initiative. It is estimated that through this initiative, China has invested 2.5 times more in African infrastructure development than all the Western countries combined.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, China is the African continent's largest bilateral trade partner, and the trade volumes are on a rising trend, reaching a historic high of $282.1 billion in 2023.China has particularly been the largest trading partner and largest source of foreign investment for the Democratic Republic of Congo for several consecutive years.

What's more, research conducted by the Institute for Security Studies suggests that the FOCAC's institutional mechanisms have been conducive to project implementation, with $155 billion of the $191 billion total promised loans between 2006 and 2021.

China is not seeking to saddle Africa with the burden of debt to subtly control Africa in a neocolonial way as the West alleges with its allegations of so-called debt-trap diplomacy.

The fact that China uses models such as "engineer-procure-construct" (EPC), or "build-operate-transfer" (BOT) in themselves debunk the "debt-trap diplomacy" narrative because these models are meant to leave African countries with no debts. The Western conspiracy like the narrative of "debt-trap diplomacy" will not therefore deter African countries from pursuing their win-win cooperation and their strategic partnership with China.

China remains a source of inspiration for the Global South in general and Africa in particular, as far as sustainable development is concerned. How beautiful it was for me recently to breathe once again the air of progress and modernization of China, when I attended a seminar on Chinese modernization and African development.

And my visits to China's emerging industries have left a deep impression on me, including a factory of new electric and intelligent cars, an artificial intelligence center, a dam, an agricultural biotechnology corporation, modern villages with all the integrated services, and new innovative companies at the provincial level. This is a country that has made remarkable development achievements in a short period of time. Besides, through platforms such as the BRI, the FOCAC and BRICS, China is also helping countries develop and assume their due role on the world stage.

African countries and other Global South countries are prioritizing their win-win cooperation with China to emerge from years of poverty and political instability.

On the occasion of the holding of the next FOCAC meeting, we may talk about the construction of infrastructure that connect our countries in Africa, the electrification of our countries which can guarantee our industrialization; we may talk about food security and new technologies to transform our resources on the spot to create jobs and markets for the benefit of our peoples. In short, we may talk about win-win cooperation and development.

The author is a professor of international politics and strategies at Joseph Kasa Vubu University in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a senior visiting research fellow at Peking University's Institute for Global Cooperation and Understanding. The author contributed this article to China Watch, a think tank powered by China Daily. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

Contact the editor at editor@chinawatch.cn.