China to wave billions in aid and loans at Africa

China is expected to offer African nations billions of dollars in aid and loans as leaders gather in Beijing for a China-Africa summit.

Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday. Picture: AFP

China is expected to offer African nations billions of dollars in aid and loans as leaders gather in Beijing for the third Forum on China-Africa Co-operation.

President Xi Jinping is ­expected to outline his country’s new commitments to Africa in a keynote speech this morning at a meeting that will include leaders of more than 50 African ­nations.

Mr Xi pledged more than $US60 billion ($69.bn) in loans and assistance to Africa at the last China-Africa forum in ­Johannesburg in 2015.

Over the past decade, China has become Africa’s largest trading partner with two-way trade of $US170bn — four times ­Africa’s trade with the US.

Under pressure from its trade war with the US, and a bellig­erent President Donald Trump expressing his concerns about China’s military designs in the Asia Pacific, Mr Xi will be ­looking to this week’s forum to show China’s strong links with Africa.

In comments made at the weekend, as African leaders have been arriving, Mr Xi has talked about the importance of African countries continuing to be involved in his Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Nine African countries including South Africa, Madagascar and Egypt have signed up to the BRI with another 20 African countries reported to be discussing co-operation agreements with China.

Some China-backed BRI projects have come under criticism recently for leaving the host countries with significant debt.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamed, has suspended three BRI projects in his country, a railway and two pipelines, saying Malaysia could not afford them.

China has been investing $US3bn a year in Africa over the past few years, as it expands its investments in the continent’s mineral resources and seeks to expand its strategic reach but it is concerned that some of its investments may not have delivered the returns it had hoped.

China last year established a military base in Djibouti, next to a port also owned by Chinese interests. Situated on the Horn of Africa, between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the base gives China another strategic point of access to the Indian Ocean.

A country of fewer than a million people, Djibouti is reported to have borrowed $US1.4bn from China over the past two years.

China accounts for more than 21 per cent of Kenya’s total external debt after having backed a upgrade of its railway system from the capital, Nairobi, to the coastal city of Mombasa.

This week’s forum will also be attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on his third trip to China since taking up the role, who has ­described China-Africa ties as a “central part of South-South co-­operation.”