Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chairperson of the African Union (AU), Senegalese President Macky Sall’s joint pledge to build a joint community and enhance friendship and cooperation between the two sides carries immense significance for the African continent.
For a land which continues to bear the brunt of neocolonialism and neglect, it is critical to chart out strategies for its sovereign states to realize their true economic potential. Taking existing cooperation to new heights will help significantly.
It is undeniable that Africa has demonstrated immense resilience during the COVID-19 era and has continued to champion the cause of the developing world as well as upholding multilateralism. Repeated calls for closer integration and unity among African nations have aided its development, revitalization and integration as mentioned by President Xi Jinping. Platforms, such as the Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), help Africa to benefit from tools critical of its rise, such as investments in science and technology.
AU Commissioner for Education Science, Technology and Innovation Mohamed Belhoucine, for example, acknowledged that FOCAC helps Africa realize its aspirations towards knowledge generation for space science, especially by targeting the youth of the country.
Similarly, consultations on enhancing literacy rates in countries such as Ethiopia under FOCAC, have also taken place, with the aim of creating educational resilience, greater civic understandings and a workforce which can provide strong policy recommendations to tackle existential challenges. The key is to take such cooperation to greater heights, especially as existing linkages have not been held hostage to international dynamics.
Challenges, such as economic shocks due to the Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic, require swift solutions. The early implementation of the outcomes of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC by both sides, which includes building a shared China-Africa community, prioritizing the developing world, opposing external interference in African affairs as well as striving to operationalize follow up actions such as “nine programs” dealing with health, the green economy, digital innovation and poverty alleviation, will help immensely.
Note that the nine programs have been well received by African experts and analysts, including the former Ambassador of Ghana to China, Anani Okuminyi Demuyakor, who hailed the green development program as evidence of China’s determination to help Africa become environmentally resilient and tackle the effects of climate change.
As the Ukraine war exaggerates global food insecurity, regions such as Africa continue to be disproportionately affected in 2022. Struggles with agricultural output and scarcity of water increase the probability of famine, malnutrition and food shortages which can affect millions of people.
To tackle the scourge of food supply shortages, which economists such as Egide Karuranga from Rwanda consider being due to lack of domestic innovation and global shocks, agricultural technology expertise can be employed.
Karuranga acknowledged that China has the requisite agricultural technology innovations which can be transferred to the continent and assist it in modernization, development of quality food products and leveraging its organic produce for greater trade with China and beyond. This becomes a win-win situation for both sides, given that people-centric approaches in times of severe food insecurity are precisely what continents such as Africa need.
Africa in 2022 also confronts challenges of peace, inclusivity and lack of conflict resolution. Rampant terrorism, ranging from operations from Al Qaeda affiliates in Somalia and Nigeria, continue to present existential challenges to writs of sovereign states, as do ethnically motivated insurgencies.
Repeated calls to the international community to help countries such as Niger tackle the threat posed by terrorism groups have been made by China and it is important to note that tackling such threats require a multipronged approach.
Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations and president of the UN Security Council, spoke about how addressing economic woes, tackling food insecurity, strengthening capacity building and providing civic facilities, such as schools and hospitals, can have a positive impact on the overall security environment of the continent that acts as an important takeaway for the global community to mull over.
The truth is that taking China-AU cooperation to new heights will benefit Africa strategically.
Hamzah Rifaat Hussain, a former visiting fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and former assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, is a TV anchor at Indus News in Pakistan.Â
