Arran Hope
The ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Beijing on September 4–6 (FMPRC, September 5). The theme of the event was “joining hands to advance modernization and together building a high level China-Africa community of common destiny (携手推进现代化，共筑高水平中非命运共同体)” (FMPRC, September 5). The triennial event was co-chaired by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and President Faye of the Republic of Senegal. Heads of states, governments, and delegations from 53 African countries traveled to Beijing for the Summit and the Ministerial Conference, as did the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Xi met with at least 40 leaders (Tracking People’s Daily, September 7).
Politics was front and center at this year’s FOCAC. Marquee announcements were made of financial assistance and business investment totaling Renminbi 360 billion ($51 billion) and project funding has increased for the first time in seven years, but these were secondary to the political implications that the summit symbolized (The China in Africa Podcast, August 29). The most notable was the “elevation of relations with all African countries with whom the PRC has established diplomatic relations to the “strategic” level and the framing of overall relations as an “all-weather China-Africa community of common destiny for the new era (新时代全天候中非命运共同体)” (FMPRC, September 5). [1] Other significant moments include the deepening of ties with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s South Africa and the signing of a memorandum of understanding on the revitalization of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority railway (Global Times, September 4). Beneath these headline announcements were myriad other projects and areas of engagement and a decisive expansion of political alignment.
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