China's vision expected to benefit Africa

Following the launch of the Global Governance Initiative, or GGI, new opportunities are emerging for African nations to shape their place in an increasingly multipolar world.

Introduced in September at the "Shanghai Cooperation Organization Plus" Meeting in Tianjin, the GGI aims to promote a more just and equitable system of global governance. Anchored on the principles of sovereignty, equality, and true multilateralism, the initiative focuses on key areas, including climate governance, technology governance and fair representation within global institutions.

Warwick Powell, adjunct professor at Australia's Queensland University of Technology, said the initiative represents a new chapter in international relations for many countries in the Global South and particularly in Africa, one that moves beyond the hierarchies and dependencies of the postwar order dominated by the West.

Powell, who spoke at a webinar organized by the Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory last week, said the initiative creates space for more vigorous articulation of the need for reforms in global institutions such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

"GGI serves as an invitation to create and nurture new institutions at the regional level that strengthen coordination, amplify collective voices, and support key goals such as data sovereignty, financial sovereignty, and regional security," he said.

Unlike the traditional paradigms shaped by colonial extraction, domination and foreign dependency, Powell said China's approach under the GGI is rooted in the enablement of others — facilitating the conditions for shared development, reciprocity and cooperation.

"China imagines itself not as the next empire to carry the baton of global dominance but as a great enabling power," Powell said.

He termed China's growing exports of renewable energy technology to Africa as one of the key opportunities for the continent under the GGI.

Powell emphasized the importance of energy sovereignty, noting that no country can achieve true independence or development without control over its energy systems.

"Electricity powers education, healthcare and water systems — it's the foundation of everything else," he said.

Powell highlighted data sovereignty as the next frontier of national empowerment. With artificial intelligence and digital systems driving the new global economy, African nations, he said, must invest in local data infrastructure and open-source AI models that can be run on domestic networks.

"Control of data is control of destiny," he said, urging African policymakers to ensure that digital transformation aligns with local needs and values. Powell underscored the need for monetary and financial sovereignty, arguing that dependence on foreign currencies, especially the US dollar, has long constrained African economies.

Instead, he proposed mechanisms such as currency swaps with China's central bank, the issuance of RMB-denominated bonds, and collaboration with institutions like the BRICS' New Development Bank to finance infrastructure and technology in national currencies.

Powell called for collective security frameworks that ensure regional stability through cooperation rather than competition.

"The security of one nation should not come at the expense of another," he said, adding that building pan-African institutions of mutual security would be key to long-term prosperity.

Powell noted that while challenges remain, particularly the legacy of 500 years of colonial history and persistent efforts by some powers to divide and control, the timing is ripe for Africa to assert a new role.

"Between 2025 and 2030, the Global South has a better window than ever before to be heard," he said.

He said that for Africa, the task now is to build the institutions, trust, and imagination needed to seize the moment.

Long-standing aspirations

According to James Shikwati, director of the Inter Region Economic Network — an independent African think tank based in Nairobi, Kenya — the GGI encompasses reforms to the global financial architecture that align closely with Africa's long-standing aspirations to reshape international finance, credit rating system, and payment mechanisms.

"For Africa, the initiative presents a valuable framework for reforming finance, debt management, trade standards, digital and artificial intelligence governance as well as climate regimes, to ensure the voices of the Global South are heard," he said.

Shikwati noted that China's GGI and other major initiatives provide a unique platform to advance shared development across Africa and the wider world.

Thomas Namwambah, a senior lecturer at Kenya's Kenyatta University, said China's approach reflects a deep understanding and appreciation of the fundamental equality of all human beings.

This is in addition to the need for international law and justice to be applied uniformly across the world — an ideal, he believed all nations should emulate.

By anchoring mutual coexistence on international law and the justice system, the world "would be able to effectively address the myriad problems bedeviling humanity", he said.

"By so doing, we will be able to address the right problems, identify risks, and make better decisions," he added.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.com