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How China ‘leapfrogs’ other nations to build close African trade and military ties
Strategic dialogue mechanism signed 25 years ago is credited for increased China-Africa cooperation, edging out the US, Russia and France
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month highlighted Beijing’s “leapfrog development” in ties with African countries in the 25 years since the setting up of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
Addressing a FOCAC ministerial event on June 11, Wang noted that trade had surged nearly 30-fold while Chinese investment had grown almost 100-fold since the strategic dialogue mechanism was set up in 2000.
In parallel to closer economic ties, there has also been increased cooperation on the security front. Before FOCAC, which includes all but one of the 54 African nations, China had not conducted any military drills in Africa, accounted for less than 5 per cent of African weapons inventories and had fewer than 200 African officers in its military schools.
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Today, China trains about 2,000 African officers each year and is a leading arms supplier to the continent, beating Russia in sub-Saharan Africa and rivalling traditional suppliers like the United States and France elsewhere on the continent. Roughly 70 per cent of African countries now operate Chinese armoured vehicles.
The Young Leaders Conference of China-Africa Peace and Security Forum, another FOCAC-related event, hosted about 90 military officers from over 40 African nations this week in Nanjing.
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The five-day event from July 15 was hosted by China’s defence ministry and organised by its Army Command College. According to the ministry, the event aimed to “implement the outcomes” of last year’s FOCAC summit in Beijing and to strengthen “consensus, solidarity, and cooperation” on peace and security.
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