Tag: FOCAC

China-Africa Relations: What to expect 2022 and beyond

Posted on By Sino Uganda Research Centre

The year 2021 ended on a very good note for African countries in context of Sino-Africa relations with
Beijing showing readiness and commitment to double down its development support and cooperation to
African countries.

Looking at Action Plan for the year 2022-2024 produced from November 2021 Forum on China-Africa
Co-operation (FOCAC) ministerial conference held Senegal, it is clear that China is ready to increase its
development support to African countries. One can also confidently argue that this Action Plan which
details how China and African countries will co-operate in the next three years will highly succeed
considering the fact that it was generated through consensus which reflects China’s relationship with
African countries – mutual respect and the partnership of equals!

The nine areas identified in this action plan namely; peace and security, digital innovation, promotion of
trade, people-to-people relations, promotion of investments in African countries, supporting medical and
health programs, poverty reduction, supporting agricultural programs, green development, and capacity
building are all key to African countries economic and sustainable development.

Despite striking similarities in some sections of 2018-2021 action plan, the 2022-24 action plan has
packages that if well implemented will spur economic, social and sustainable development.
For example, the 2022-2024 action plan has a package of $40 billion financial commitments of which $10
billion will be invested in specific sectors, namely; manufacturing industries, agriculture and digital
economy. Aware that the 2018-2021 action plan did not specify which sectors would benefit, this time
workplan singles out sectors to benefit from China’s partnership.

Also, in this workplan, Beijing earmarked $10 of her International Monterey Fund (IMF) drawing rights
share to assist development in African countries, $10 billion will go to supporting trade with aim of
boosting African countries exports to China a development expected to increase volume of China’s
imports from African countries to a whopping $300 billion while $10 billion has been set aside to
facilitate credit lines to African financial institutions to be accessed by several African countries.
Considering effects of covid-19 pandemic on global economy which saw major economies growth reduce
with China’s growing at 2.3% in 2020 which is the lowest since 1976, China committing $40bn to
African countries is evidence of China’s commitment to support her allies.

Fighting Covid-19 Pandemic Together.
The 2021 FOCAC ministerial came at a time when the world is battling Covid-19 – the worst
pandemic of our times which has devastated the world for two years and its defeat remains
elusive, with over 326-million people infected, and claimed lives of over 5.54 million people.
In all this uncertainty, using their financial muscle, Western Countries chose vaccine

nationalism-buying almost all produced vaccines on markets, and leaving poor and developing
countries especially in Africa with less no vaccines, putting the continent far from the needed
60% vaccination for its population needed for herd immunity. Even with Covax facility, today,
only 14% of African countries have vaccinated their citizens, 76% in Canada and the U.S.A,
66% in Europe, 72% Asian Pacific, 72% Latin America and 51% in Middle East.

However, as developed countries hoarded vaccines, working with African countries, China organized a
novel extraordinary China-Africa summit to devise means of containing the pandemic. Consequently,
China and African countries have been working together in fighting the pandemic by donating thousands
of tonnes of materials required in fighting covid-19 which include facemasks, ventilators, testing kits,
ventilators, financial assistance and sending experts to work with African counterparts among others.
China has also worked with some African countries like Morocco and Egypt to locally produce Covid-19
vaccines.
Addressing the 2021 FOCAC ministerial conference, President Xi Jinping announced China will supply
one billion vaccines to African countries of which 600 million will come as donations while 400 million
doses will be produced locally through joint vaccine production arrangement between China and African
countries. It is important to note that Morocco have already started producing vaccines with support from
a Chinse pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm. President Xi’s promised 1 billion vaccines to Africa is enough
to vaccinate 40% of continent’s population which will be a big boost. If fully implemented, this will be
the largest bilateral vaccine support to African countries if compared with U.S.A’s. 500million vaccine
pledges promised to poor and developing countries world over.

While China’s critics accuse Beijing of the so-called Vaccine Diplomacy, arguably, to compare China’s
assistance to African countries in building a functioning health system with politics is an insult to
Africans and ignorance of facts like African countries’ need in building a robust public health system that
will be able to withstand any future pandemics. This is what China is doing. The construction of the
Headquarters Building Phase I Project of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa
CDC) funded by China is ongoing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Revolutionizing digital economy and green development      
The 2022-2024 action plan for China-Africa cooperation also points at digital and green economy. To
show emphasis, digital economy is presented as an independent subsection under economic cooperation
and green development is presented in its section signifying China’s commitment to support African
countries in the two sectors.

Aware that digital revolution is the way to go, China and African countries have come up an initiative to
work together and jointly build a China-Africa Community with a shared future in Cyberspace, a
development that will see both sides working together in areas like artificial intelligence, big data internet,
mobile internet, cloud computing, among others. In Uganda for example, Huawei is already implementing
this program and hence, supporting African countries technological transfer, digital infrastructure and
digital innovation.

In green development, focus is given to ecological and climate change mitigation which can be achieved
through clean energy which China is supporting in Africa. This initiative is spot-on for one can argue that
it directly responds to China’s critics who often claim that China does not consider environmental issues
when supporting developmental projects in Africa.

All in all, China-Africa cooperation if measured from the success of FOCAC, in its 21 years, the
cooperation has achieved a lot for the African countries and much more is in pipeline! Going by
commitments released by Chinese government in its FOCAC whitepaper of November 26 th 2021, China is
ready to double down her support to African countries to realise a China-Africa Community with a shared
future. From 2022-2024, FOCAC’s focus will be on cooperation like digital economy, supporting medical
and health programs, poverty reduction, green development, capacity building, peace and security,
promotion of trade, people-to-people relations, financial assistance, supporting agriculture sector, among others. One can therefore confidently argue that China is and continue to be Africa’s desired development partner.

However, African countries should not just sit and wait to be spoon-fed, they must be pro-active and use
the opportunity of China’s willingness to work with them as “equal partners” so as to further gain from
Beijing. As of today, despite having FOCAC in place, there seems not to be a coordinated engagement
with China with no single African country having a clear “China strategy.”

As of today, China has
released comprehensive three Africa policy papers since 2006 yet, despite having many experts on China
including thousands with highest education thanks to Chinese government scholarships, there no single
policy paper on China has been developed by Africa as a continent either under the African Union or even
FOCAC.

FOCAC and Its Benefits to Uganda and African Countries in General

Posted on By Sino Uganda Research Centre

As November comes to an end, the eighth edition of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
(FOCAC) is due to be held in Dakar, Senegal from 29th to 30th November 2021. The theme
of this year’s summit will be “Deepen China-Africa Partnership and Promote Sustainable
Development to build a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.”

FOCAC is an official forum between the People’s Republic of China and the African States and it was
established in 2000 when the first ministerial conference was held in Beijing. Since then, there have
been seven ministerial conferences and three FOCAC summits held over the years. This has
strengthened the ties between the People’s Republic of China and the African countries through this
interaction. The FOCAC deliberations have brought African and Chinese leaders closer and crafted a
shared vision for policy coordination, expanded commercial interaction, and common prosperity.

FOCAC has been very beneficial to the development of African countries in different sectors. This is
engrained in the central appeal of FOCAC as its focus on cultivating close partnerships. Strategic
priorities are laid down in 12 policy forums such as the China-Africa Defence and security forum and
the ministerial forum on China-Africa Health cooperation. These forums help in developing the
respective sectors such as the defense, security, and health sectors. Technical organs like the China-
Africa Local Government Cooperation Forum and the China-Africa Think Tanks Forum organize
short-term training.

FOCAC’s in-country training model focuses on training and capacity building in Africa and consists
of four main areas namely: Multiyear programs for public servants with managerial and policy
responsibilities; Mentorship programs linking African and Chinese institutions; Political party
exchanges to train cadres and diffuse norms and Vocational education workshops.

Roughly 50,000 training slots are distributed to African Union (AU) members across these 4
categories triennially. An additional 60,000 go toward educating civilian and military students,
including several thousand at the leadership level. By 2020, China was providing more training for
Africans than any other country, having overtaken India, Germany, Japan, and the United States.
These training programs are driven by Chinese institutions.

China’s cultural presence has also grown. In 2000, China had no cultural institutes in Africa and
educated less than 2,000 African students. Presently, China has the second-largest number of cultural
institutes in Africa. The number of African students studying in China has ballooned to 60,000,
making China the top destination for English-speaking students. This has enabled many African
students to acquire much needed knowledge and education from China.

In 2009, China displaced the United States as Africa’s largest trade partner, with total trade topping
$200 billion in 2020. Chinese imports from Africa constitute between 20 to 30 percent of this trade
volume. China is therefore a big trade partner of African countries and this trade cooperation is
expected to grow in the coming years. This has contributed to Africa’s economic development to a
large extent.

One of the important initiatives to emerge out of FOCAC was the establishment of the China-Africa
Business Council (CABC) which was launched in Beijing in March 2005 with broad stakeholder
participation. This has greatly boosted trade and economic cooperation between the two partners.

In the infrastructure and telecommunications sector, China is a big financier of projects. In 2000,
China’s investment stock in Africa was just 2% of U.S. levels, with fewer than 200 Chinese firms on
the ground. This soared to over 55% of U.S. levels by 2020, and the number of Chinese firms
expanded to over 10,000, of which about 10 percent are state-owned. In construction alone, China’s
state-owned firms have generated over $40 billion in revenues annually since 2012 in Africa. They
finance one in five and build one in three projects, making China the single largest player in African
infrastructure. Transport and energy infrastructure dominate Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI),
along with utilities, technology, and real estate. These sectors play a huge role in the economic
development of African countries.

FOCAC has also stimulated the attention of the whole world on Africa, led the international
communities to pay more attention to Africa, and increase the investment in Africa. FOCAC also
effectively serves as a giant lobbying forum for economic interests to discuss and sign contracts under
the umbrella of political “comrade-ship”.

Through the FOCAC process, China has cancelled African debt, facilitated expanded market access,
and provided a wide range of new opportunities for positive engagement. This has given African
countries a chance to expand the market for their exports and relieved them of their debts.
Besides the economic dimension, China and Africa are linked by the common objective of advancing
the South-South agenda. In this context, China and Africa are seeking a stronger voice for the
developing world on the world stage and in international institutions such as the United Nations,
World Trade Organisation (WTO), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and World Bank. China is
seen as a partner of Africa in the struggle to democratize international forum and reshape global
development agendas.

FOCAC has promoted a process of mutually beneficial interdependence between China and Africa of
which Uganda is part, underpinned by China’s commitment to peaceful co-existence, equality, and
respect for sovereign independence. Africa has gained significantly from this and stands to gain
further through on-going interaction and diplomatic exchanges. The regular and structured interaction
provides a mechanism for identifying and developing new opportunities.

Ngabo Octave  is a research fellow with Development Watch Centre and a health education enthusiast.

FOCAC’S 2022-24 Dakar Action Plan: Where Do the Women and Youths Lie?

Posted on By Sino Uganda Research Centre

It is every country’s aspiration to secure a stable, developmental, and sustainable spot on the international political and socio-economic equilibrium. Often times, the pursuit of these aspirations are hindered by usually foreseeable circumstances most of which have an imperialistic identity. In the same pursuit, a few countries manage to evade the swarm of conflict, not spontaneously but they eventually overcome. The incidental factors that spark this sort of triumph can secure a moment for discussion at a later convenient period. This moment’s topical focus is as to what happens when these countries get to the top. Rise and immerse others? Or rise and lift others? China is a focal point of choice. To immerse, or to lift!

A unifying bloc (for China and Africa relations) was formed in Beijing, and is known the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Following the China-Africa Consultative Forum, when it was first formed in 2000, criticism rang from all corners. The formation of this cooperation had joined the few international diplomacy blocs. It was a potential threat (as thought at the time) to the Western domination. It issued alternative policy direction to a traditional modus operandi. Like a few other attempts that had sunk miserably, this new born was to stand the proverbial test of time. As of now, it’s now 21 years and counting. The initial number of flag-off members has within that time expanded and it’s promising to add, that there are prospective members along the way.

The tradition has been holding a ministerial conference after a period of 3 years. The recent such ministerial conference was held in November, 2021, in Senegal’s capital of Dakar. Much was discussed, more was agreed upon, but there’s something worthy to note out of that ministerial conference. The needs, aspirations, and the goals have since kept alternating compared to very first ministerial conference. These needs and objectives have been inspired by the changing times. Whereas the founding principles of this diplomacy remain intact, the mode of achieving these goals and cropping of new regional and international challenges haven’t been constant. Two of the most interesting highlights of the recent FOCAC ministerial conference were the concerns on “Youth and Women,” and the “Digital Economy.”

In numerous countries, perhaps world over, women were greatly discriminated at peak levels in the recent centuries. For most African countries, sadly, this still happens on great scales, at a time where someone would think that such vices and regrettable events are only but a tale. The youth, on the other hand, are hardly supported by their respective governments in their pursuit to make the world a better place. These two interest groups are often times victims of uneven distribution of resources. The impacts are realized in the deplorable standards of living, and uneven spreading of wealth. The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation for the past 6 years has been committed to realizing the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, specifically agenda 5 on realizing ‘gender equality’ and agenda 10 on ‘reducing inequalities’.

The Dakar Action Plan adopted under the ‘Culture and People-to-people’ exchanges chapter in which China and Africa FOCAC members pledged to keep strengthening the already present cooperation and future exchanges in advancing equality in gender. On the top list was empowerment of women. The two sides resolved on tenable solutions to this being through women’s dialogues by supported by all responsible bodies in these member states, exchanges especially among the women startup and seasonal entrepreneurs. Seminars both locally and internationally have been supported by China such as the ‘Happy Campus Projects’ and the Child Health and Maternal Healthcare programs to which over 25,000 women participants from the FOCAC developing countries benefitted from trainings on modern healthcare methods.

China is a serving member to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women whose agenda is well laid out as of the sustainable development goals (SDG’s). This identity is a statement that its ideals are buried in equitable development. That China is worthy of guiding, advisory, and responsive partner state. The country’s resolve in promotion of women’s rights and elevation of their social and economic status has been on for years and it’s not surprising that in 1995, it hosted the Fourth World Conference on Women. There’s more to learn from other FOCAC member states from this resilience and the greatest expectation is policy formulation and implementation by these states.

The youth (in all forms) are equally pivotal to future success in these states. The national and international statistical analysis has showed. Authoritatively for the Republic of Uganda, China’s diplomatic relations and exchange programs have slightly been effective at addressing the unemployment problem. The Belt and Road Initiative being the greatest driver. The scholarship programs by the Chinese government to Ugandan scholars have been thus fulfilling at equipping the beneficiaries with the modern skills and knowledge of new technologies. The Chinese founded industries in Uganda’s scattered industrial parks, revolutionary agricultural methods at Kapeeka, Oil mining activities by CNOOC in the Albertine region, infrastructural construction projects, to state the least. Just last week, CNOOC announced completion of 56 modern houses which will be given to Ugandans in Albertine region as part of their compensation for land where CNOOC carrying out oil exploration. Also, the company is offering employment opportunities to Ugandan youth.

The downside is that the question of the disabled women and youth (widely) is yet to be answered. In practice, the intervention projects basically addressing this special group are more through short-term aid, than they should be permanent at securing long-term effects such as financial stability. Perhaps, the policy formulators who are able to read this should heed to the call. The bright light is that the Dakar Action Plan recognized this inequity and that’s a positive outlook. Now, than ever in the FOCAC relations, the youth and women have gained more attention. This is good progress, but more efforts by member states are still required in addressing the challenges that still linger beneath. Hopefully, the exchanges among these countries will keep yielding more and more.

Alan Collins Mpewo is a Research Fellow, Sino-Uganda Relations Research Centre 

 

Six Decades of China-Uganda Win-Win Partnership: What are the Benefits?

Posted on By Sino Uganda Research Centre

China and Uganda share a rich historical background of diplomatic and economic relations. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1962, just 9 days after Uganda gained her independence.  Bilateral relations between the two entered a new stage of development after the National Resistance Movement of Uganda came into power in 1986 with bilateral cooperation expanding and mutual high-level exchanges increasing. In both 1996 and 1997, Uganda backed China at the UN Human rights Commission. In 2000, Uganda also supported the bill put forward by China on the maintaining and observing of the anti-Ballistic Missile treaty in the UN.

The Forum for China- Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), to which Uganda is a member, was established in 2000 following a meeting between Africa ministers and Chinese government in Beijing. The forum set up a programme of cooperation between African countries and China in various areas such as investment, financial cooperation, natural resource and energy, debt relief among others. Most recently, Uganda signed a memorandum to join the Belt and Road Initiative. This is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries and international organisations.

As of today, many African countries have benefited from this FOCAC. The most recent development support to Uganda from FOCAC arrangement is the USD20 million grant from Chinese government to support Uganda’s social and livelihoods projects which was signed in April this year by Uganda’s finance minister Matia Kasaija and Chinese ambassador to Uganda H.E Zhang Lizhong.

With the expectation of considerable revenues in the future from the exploitation of the oil reserves in Uganda’s Albertine region, there has been a growing demand for the construction of public infrastructure in Uganda which requires substantial financing. To meet her infrastructural needs, Uganda needs to invest an estimate of USD$1.4 billion annually. Public infrastructure encompasses a wide range of facilities, utilities and installations that are essential for the effective functioning of an economy and society. However, Uganda, like other resource rich and cash poor nations, lacks the financial capacity to finance these projects from her domestic revenues.

To maximise tourism revenues and facilitate business travels, Uganda embarked on a dual project to expand Entebbe international airport’s capacity and improve connectivity between Kampala and the airport to keep up with the air traffic. Uganda, as a member of the Chinese Belt and road Initiative, has benefited from the Chinese fair and conducive infrastructural financing agreements to low developed countries. China, through EXIM Bank extended a loan of up to USD 670 million which has seen the completion of the Kampala-Entebbe express highway and the ongoing expansion of Entebbe international airport which is now nearing completion. The newly built 10,000-square-meter cargo center at the airport was commissioned last April, and construction of the new terminal building covering an area of 20,000 square meters is ready to go.

Tourism remains Uganda’s highest revenue generating avenue and biggest contributor to the country’s GDP. The successful completion of these infrastructural projects eases mobility and facilitates cross-border travels of tourists and transportation of commercial goods which in turn grows the country’s revenues and accelerates economic development.

Furthermore, the Sino-Uganda relationship has equally facilitated expansion of Uganda’s electricity supply in an effort to accelerate the country’s industrialisation. China has been involved in the construction of two large dams at Karuma and Isimba. The Isimba dam, backed by China’s Exim bank with a $428.5 million loan at only 2% interest was completed in March 2019. Exim bank further financed the construction of Karuma dam with $1.4 billion, again at 2% interest. Isimba’s 183 megawatts (MW) of capacity brings Uganda’s national total to 1,167 MW. It is further estimated that prices will fall from $0.08 per MW to $0.05. Karuma dam adds a tune of 600MW to Uganda’s power sector. The increased power supply fits within Ugandan government targets that by 2040, industrialisation should contribute 31% of the GDP and employing 26% of labour force and contributing 50% of exports as manufactured goods.

Notwithstanding China’s very low interest and long-term loans extended to Uganda to boost economic growth through infrastructural development, in terms of industrialisation and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), China is a key player in Uganda’s economic development. In the 2018/19 financial year, Uganda Investment Authority performance report ranked China a top Foreign Direct Investor in 2018 with a total investment worth $607million comprising 45.1 percent of the total investment. During the same period in which China overwhelmingly outnumbered other foreign investors, 75.4% of the jobs created were attributed to foreign owned projects. China is also Uganda’s second largest trading partner with the total exports and imports between the two countries totalling to over $940 million annually.

In 2021, bilateral trade volume between China and Uganda amounted to US$1.07 billion, registering a 28.5% increase, against the shock waves of the Covid-19 pandemic. These trade and economic relations have significantly raised domestic revenues for Uganda.

Conclusively, the above is a summary illustration of the inexhaustible and immense contribution that China continues to have on economic development in Uganda. The contribution is across a broad spectrum of sectors such as infrastructure development, manufacturing and industrialisation, Agriculture and foreign direct investments among others. The inflow of investment projects and establishments have increased Uganda’s tax base and domestic revenues and subsequently created various jobs for the locals.

Ainomugisha Barry is a research Fellow with Development Watch Centre, and a Lawyer.

 

China-Africa Relations: What to expect in 2022 and beyond

Posted on By Sino Uganda Research Centre

The year 2021 ended on a very good note for African countries in context of Sino-Africa relations with Beijing showing readiness and commitment to double down its development support and cooperation to African countries.

Looking at Action Plan for the year 2022-2024 produced from November 2021 Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) ministerial conference held Senegal, it is clear that China is ready to increase its development support to African countries. One can also confidently argue that this Action Plan which details how China and African countries will co-operate in the next three years will highly succeed considering the fact that it was generated through consensus which reflects China’s relationship with African countries – mutual respect and the partnership of equals!

The nine areas identified in this action plan namely; peace and security, digital innovation, promotion of trade, people-to-people relations, promotion of investments in African countries, supporting medical and health programs, poverty reduction, supporting agricultural programs, green development, and capacity building are all key to African countries economic and sustainable development.

Despite striking similarities in some sections of 2018-2021 action plan, the 2022-24 action plan has packages that if well implemented will spur economic, social and sustainable development.

For example, the 2022-2024 action plan has a package of $40 billion financial commitments of which $10 billion will be invested in specific sectors, namely; manufacturing industries, agriculture and digital economy. Aware that the 2018-2021 action plan did not specify which sectors would benefit, this time workplan singles out sectors to benefit from China’s partnership.

Also, in this workplan, Beijing earmarked $10 of her International Monterey Fund (IMF) drawing rights share to assist development in African countries, $10 billion will go to supporting trade with aim of boosting African countries exports to China a development expected to increase volume of China’s imports from African countries to a whopping $300 billion while $10 billion has been set aside to facilitate credit lines to African financial institutions to be accessed by several African countries.

Considering effects of covid-19 pandemic on global economy which saw major economies growth reduce with China’s growing at 2.3% in 2020 which is the lowest since 1976, China committing $40bn to African countries is evidence of China’s commitment to support her allies.

Fighting Covid-19 Pandemic Together.

The 2021 FOCAC ministerial came at a time when the world is battling Covid-19 – the worst pandemic of our times which has devastated the world for two years and its defeat remains elusive, with over 326-million people infected, and claimed lives of over 5.54 million people.

In all this uncertainty, using their financial muscle, Western Countries chose vaccine nationalism-buying almost all produced vaccines on markets, and leaving poor and developing countries especially in Africa with less no vaccines, putting the continent far from the needed 60% vaccination for its population needed for herd immunity. Even with Covax facility, today, only 14% of African countries have vaccinated their citizens, 76% in Canada and the U.S.A, 66% in Europe, 72% Asian Pacific, 72% Latin America and 51% in Middle East.

However, as developed countries hoarded vaccines, working with African countries, China organized a novel extraordinary China-Africa summit to devise means of containing the pandemic. Consequently, China and African countries have been working together in fighting the pandemic by donating thousands of tonnes of materials required in fighting covid-19 which include facemasks, ventilators, testing kits, ventilators, financial assistance and sending experts to work with African counterparts among others. China has also worked with some African countries like Morocco and Egypt to locally produce Covid-19 vaccines.

Addressing the 2021 FOCAC ministerial conference, President Xi Jinping announced China will supply one billion vaccines to African countries of which 600 million will come as donations while 400 million doses will be produced locally through joint vaccine production arrangement between China and African countries. It is important to note that Morocco have already started producing vaccines with support from a Chinse pharmaceutical firm Sinopharm. President Xi’s promised 1 billion vaccines to Africa is enough to vaccinate 40% of continent’s population which will be a big boost. If fully implemented, this will be the largest bilateral vaccine support to African countries if compared with U.S.A’s. 500million vaccine pledges promised to poor and developing countries world over.

While China’s critics accuse Beijing of the so-called Vaccine Diplomacy, arguably, to compare China’s assistance to African countries in building a functioning health system with politics is an insult to Africans and ignorance of facts like African countries’ need in building a robust public health system that will be able to withstand any future pandemics. This is what China is doing. The construction of the Headquarters Building Phase I Project of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) funded by China is ongoing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Revolutionizing digital economy and green development

The 2022-2024 action plan for China-Africa cooperation also points at digital and green economy. To show emphasis, digital economy is presented as an independent subsection under economic cooperation and green development is presented in its section signifying China’s commitment to support African countries in the two sectors.

Aware that digital revolution is the way to go, China and African countries have come up an initiative to work together and jointly build a China-Africa Community with a shared future in Cyberspace, a development that will see both sides working together in areas like artificial intelligence, big data internet, mobile internet, cloud computing, among others. In Uganda for example, Huawei is already implementing this program and hence, supporting African countries technological transfer, digital infrastructure and digital innovation.

In green development, focus is given to ecological and climate change mitigation which can be achieved through clean energy which China is supporting in Africa. This initiative is spot-on for one can argue that it directly responds to China’s critics who often claim that China does not consider environmental issues when supporting developmental projects in Africa.

All in all, China-Africa cooperation if measured from the success of FOCAC, in its 21 years, the cooperation has achieved a lot for the African countries and much more is in pipeline! Going by commitments released by Chinese government in its FOCAC whitepaper of November 26th 2021, China is ready to double down her support to African countries to realise a China-Africa Community with a shared future. From 2022-2024, FOCAC’s focus will be on cooperation like digital economy, supporting medical and health programs, poverty reduction, green development, capacity building, peace and security, promotion of trade, people-to-people relations, financial assistance, supporting agriculture sector, among others. One can therefore confidently argue that China is and continue to be Africa’s desired development partner.

However, African countries should not just sit and wait to be spoon-fed, they must be pro-active and use the opportunity of China’s willingness to work with them as “equal partners” so as to further gain from Beijing. As of today, despite having FOCAC in place, there seems not to be a coordinated engagement with China with no single African country having a clear “China strategy.”  As of today, China has released comprehensive three Africa policy papers since 2006 yet, despite having many experts on China including thousands with highest education thanks to Chinese government scholarships, there no single policy paper on China has been developed by Africa as a continent either under the African Union or even FOCAC.

Allawi Ssemanda is Research Fellow Sino-Uganda Relations Research Centre

tank.