THE GUIDING ROLE OF CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION IN ADVANCING THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

LIU QINGJIAN

Professor of the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China

China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative provides a huge and inclusive platform for the cooperation between China and developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. China-Africa cooperation,as creative and historic experience of South-South cooperation, has played a leading role in promoting the cooperation between China and the developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America under the Belt and Road Initiative. The leading role of China-Africa cooperation is visible four aspects.

THE DOMINANT ROLE OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT

In the development of China-Africa cooperation, the Chinese government plays a dominant role, which can be reflected in its foreign strategy and policy.In the 21st century, the Chinese government has released two African policy papers, providing strategic positioning,policy guidance and mechanism guarantee for China-Africa cooperation. The Chinese government issued the “China’s African Policy” in January 2006. The paper proposed the general principles and objectives of China’s African policy as“sincerity, friendship, equality, mutual benefit, reciprocity, common prosperity, mutual support, close cooperation,learning from each other and seeking common development” and established policies for all-round cooperation covering 30 sectors in four fields. The Chinese government issued the second“China’s African Policy” in December 2015. The new policy paper summed up the experience gained in China-Africa cooperation over the past decade and stated that under the new circumstances, China would adhere to the principles of its African policy featuring “sincerity, practical results, affinity and good faith”, uphold the values of friendship,justice and shared interests, and push for new leapfrog growth of its friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation with Africa. China will strengthen coordination and cooperation with other countries as well as international and regional organizations on the basis of the “Africa-proposed, Africa-agreed and Africa-led” principle and with an active,open and inclusive attitude. China will also explore tripartite and multilateral cooperation in Africa so as to jointly contribute to peace, stability and development on the continent.

The Belt and Road Initiative, since its inception, has also developed on a path where the Chinese central government plays a dominant role. After the proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative by President Xi Jinping in 2013, the initiative was included in the Decisions of the CPC Central Committee on Major Issues Concerning Comprehensively Deepening Reform and the Report on the Work of the Government in 2014. The Strategic Plan for Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, which identified the Belt and Road Initiative as an important national development strategy, was adopted in the same year. On March 28, 2015, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce issued the Vision and Actions on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. In October 2015, the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative issued the Action Plan on Belt and Road Standard Connectivity (2015-2017). On June 12, 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration jointly released the Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In January 2018, targeting the overall requirements and priority tasks for advancing the Belt and Road Initiative in the new phase and taking into account the reality of the standardization work, the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative issued the Action Plan on Jointly Building Belt and Road Standard Connectivity (2018-2020). These are the guiding documents for promoting the Belt and Road Initiative.

As early as April 29, 2016, when President Xi Jinping presided over the 31st collective study session of the 18th CPC Central Committee’s Political Bureau, he explicitly defined the dominant role of the Chinese government in advancing the Belt and Road Initiative. He pointed out: “We must ensure that the government plays its guiding and coordinating role and brings into full play the role of market. The government should play a dominant role in promoting publicity,enhancing coordination and establishing mechanisms. Meanwhile, a marketbased and enterprise-dominant regional economic cooperation mechanism should be built to extensively engage various enterprises, channel more social forces into the building of the Belt and Road and strive to form a cooperative mode that integrates government, market and society, so as to form a threedimensional pattern in which government plays the leading role, enterprises actively participate and civil society plays the promoting role.”

General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a report at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2017. In the section of the work and historic change of the CPC, he identified jointly pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative and hosting the First Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation as important endeavor to advance China’s diplomatic agenda in a comprehensive,multilevel, multifaceted way and create a favorable external environment for China’s development. In the section of applying a new vision of development and developing a modernized economy,he took the Belt and Road Initiative as a priority in making new ground in pursuing opening up on all fronts. He also proposed to actively promote international cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative, strive to achieve policy,infrastructure, trade, financial, and people-to-people connectivity and thus build a new platform for international cooperation to create new drivers of shared development. This proposal will serve as China’s foreign strategy and policy “to follow a path of peaceful development and build a community with a shared future for mankind” in the new era.

THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MAJOR COUNTRY TO SUPPLY PUBLIC GOODS

The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was established in 2000under the initiative of Africa and positive response of China. Guided by the two papers of China’s African Policy,the Chinese government has constantly adopted new cooperation measures through the triennial FOCAC mechanism, and has formulated action plans to ensure the implementation and effectiveness of cooperation initiatives.Under the instruction of these policy papers and action plans, relevant Chinese departments and their affiliated agencies have established corresponding cooperation mechanisms, such as the China-Africa Economic Ministers Forum, Education Ministers Forum, the Business Forum, Think Tank Forum,and Young Leaders Forum, as platforms to fully implement various ideas and commitments made by the Chinese government at the FOCAC meetings.Besides these arrangements, the Chinese government has also established various cooperation mechanisms targeting specific sectors to ensure successful cooperation in these sectors. For example, after over a decade of development,a relatively complete mechanism for China-Africa agricultural cooperation has been established and the two sides have achieved cooperation through concrete programs. The programs include:Assistance to Africa program carried out by the Department of Foreign Aid of the Ministry of Commerce, program by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, China-Africa university cooperation program by the Ministry of Education, China-Africa joint research and exchange program by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, South-South cooperation program by the International Cooperation Bureau of the National Natural Science Foundation of China International Cooperation Agency, South-South cooperation project by the Department of International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science and Technology, China-Africa Development Fund, and China-Africa Food Fund program.

After more than ten years of development,China-Africa agricultural cooperation has established a relatively complete mechanism, and the cooperation has been realized and completed in the form of projects.The picture shows that on April 4, 2018, the Wanbao Mozambique rice farm project invested by the China-Africa Development Fund held a scything ceremony at the project site inXai-Xai, capital of Província de Gaza in southern Mozambique.

Different from the FOCAC mechanism, the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed by the Chinese President. As it represents a cooperative initiative involving diverse systems and countries at different levels of development, the Chinese leaders, since its inception, have promoted the Belt and Road Initiative in various international venues and achieved policy communication by demonstrating the sincerity for cooperation on an equal footing. Thus, the Belt and Road Initiative has won the recognition of many countries along the Belt and Road and attracted their active efforts to align their national strategy with China’s development strategy of Belt and Road Initiative. After attracting active support and participation of over 100 countries and international organizations around the world, the Chinese government hosted the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 14, 2017,which serves as a platform for international cooperation through the Belt and Road Initiative. At the forum, President Xi Jinping announced the establishment of a liaison office for the Forum’s followup activities, the Research Center for the Belt and Road Financial and Economic Development, the Facilitating Center for Building the Belt and Road,the Multilateral Development Financial Cooperation Center in cooperation with multilateral development banks, and an IMF-China Capacity Building Center.The Belt and Road Initiative has become a public good that China provides for the international community in the new era, demonstrating China’s role as a major country to take up its responsibility.

SYNERGIZING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO ACHIEVE MUTUAL BENEFIT AND WIN-WIN DEVELOPMENT

The leading role of China-Africa cooperation also manifests itself in expanding the synergy between the development of China and the African continent to that of China and developing countries along the Belt and Road and in going beyond satisfying the needs of Africa’s development to meeting the development needs of developing countries along the Belt and Road.

Five months before President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative in May, 2013, the 21st Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) adopted Africa’s Agenda 2063. The proposal of the Belt and Road Initiative and Africa’s Agenda 2063 in the same year is of great importance to both China and Africa.Immediately after the AU adopted the 2063 Agenda, the Chinese government kicked off studies on the development goals set out in the agenda and determined China-Africa cooperation projects based on these goals. It is clearly stated in the Declaration of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation that “efforts will be made to actively explore the linkages between China's initiatives of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and Africa’s economic integration and sustainable development agenda, and seek more opportunities to promote common development and realize our common dreams.”

In its cooperation with Africa, the Chinese government always pursues the independent foreign policy of peace,respects the development paths chosen by African countries and peoples, and never pursues development at the cost of interests of African countries. For example, at the beginning of the 21st century, when Angola was in urgent need of capital and technology for development, China carried Angola through the difficulties in the early stage of development, despite all the denouncement and criticisms from the West. The cooperation not only supported and assisted Angolan government to access reconstruction funds, technology, talents and manpower, achieve economic development, stabilize domestic political situation, deliver benefit to ordinary people, but also secured the independence of its diplomacy. Through the cooperation with Chinese enterprises, Angola has gradually established its own oil and gas industry system, comprehensively improved its infrastructure construction,rapidly developed the sectors of agriculture, fishery, telecommunications and residential buildings, achieved national reconstruction and boosted economic growth. When Angola achieved development, the Chinese government and enterprises embraced the fact that the Angola turned to other partners. The cooperation has showed China’s broad mind and responsibility as a major country as well as China’s values of friendship, justice and shared interests and the cooperation principles of “sincerity,practical results, affinity and good faith”.Such examples are too many to recount in China-Africa cooperation.

In the process of advancing the Belt and Road Initiative, China has successfully connected the initiative with the development strategies of some participating developing countries, including Kazakhstan’s “Nurly Zhol (the Path of Light)”, Turkey’s “Middle Corridor”,Mongolia’s “Prairie Road”, Vietnam’s“Two Corridors and One Economic Circle”, Indonesia’s “Global Maritime Fulcrum”, and an “Economic Corridor and Tea Road linking China, Russia and Mongolia” among others. China is fully engaged in connecting with the national plans of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and other countries. China has signed cooperation agreements with more than 40 countries and international organizations, carried out institutionalized cooperation in production capacity with over 30 countries, and launched an initiative to promote the unimpeded trade along the Belt and Road with more than 60 countries and international organizations. The synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and development strategies of developing countries participating in the Initiative will definitely boost the economic growth of these countries and benefit China’s further development as well.

THE DEMONSTRATION EFFECT OF COOPERATION PRACTICE IN“FIVE CONNECTIVITIES”

The Belt and Road Initiative has put forward five cooperation priorities of policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds, which have been implemented in China-Africa cooperation for many years.

In terms of policy coordination, frequent high-level mutual visits between Chinese and African leaders are the top channel for the two sides to communicate policies. After Xi Jinping took on the position as the President in 2013, he chose African countries as the destinations for his first foreign visit. In December 2015, President Xi Jinping landed on the African continent again for another state visit. Three African leaders visited China in just two weeks after the close of China’s two sessions of the NPC and CPPCC in 2018. The FOCAC has become a critical platform for the multilateral policy coordination between China and African countries. The FOCAC has held six meetings since its establishment in 2000. Before, during and after the meetings, senior officials from both China and African countries conduct constant policy coordination to determine the theme of each forum and follow-up cooperation plans for the upcoming three years. The 7th convening of the FOCAC to be held in Beijing in 2018 will be the second leaders’ summit. The Chinese and African leaders will once again gather in Beijing to discuss the plans for friendly cooperation between China and Africa, draw a blueprint for China-Africa cooperation in the new era and formulate major measures to steer the development of China-Africa cooperation.

In terms of facilities connectivity,China-Africa cooperation in this regard includes such traditional infrastructure as roads, railways, aviation, and shipping and also such emerging sectors as power, telecommunications and postal services. In the joint construction of traditional infrastructure, as of the beginning of 2016, China had assisted Africa in building 16 airports and terminals,20 bridges, 12 ports, 68 power stations,77 stadiums, 16 parliament buildings, 38 government buildings and 9 convention centers. In May 2017, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, a China-Africa cooperation project, was officially opened. In the field of electricity and telecommunications, China sent Nigeria’s first communications satellite into space, established a high-performance supercomputer center for Zimbabwe, helped many African countries develop databases,and facilitated African communications through Chinese smart phones.

In terms of unimpeded trade, the recent years have witnessed the rapid growth of China-Africa trade from $10.8 billion in 2001 to $169.75 billion in 2017, with a peak of $222 billion in 2014. The rapid growth is a result of the complementarity of the unimpeded bilateral trade.

In terms of financial integration,China has provided a large amount of assistance and investment to Africa. According to the 2017 Africa Attractiveness Report, since 2005, China has invested in 293 FDI projects in Africa, totaling an investment outlay of $66.4 billion and creating 130,750 jobs. In 2016, China’s new FDI into Africa reached $3.2 billion, covering engineering construction,manufacturing, services, mining, agriculture and infrastructure. According to data released by the Department of West Asian and African Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce, China’s non-financial direct investment flows to Africa reached$3.3 billion in 2016, up by 14% year on year, covering construction, leasing and services, mining, manufacturing, wholesale and retail and other sectors.

In terms of people-to-people bonds,a diversity of China and Africa cultural exchanges, mutual visits between Chinese and African scholars, China’s training programs for African government officials, engineers and technicians,primary and secondary school teachers,and the constantly growing number of African students studying in China have built up a bridge that links Chinese and Africans closer. Since 2000, China has built more than 200 schools in Africa and attracted more and more African students to pursue studies in China. By 2015, China had trained 130,000 Africa talents from various sectors.

In the development of China-Africa cooperation, the frequent mutual visits between Chinese and African leaders and the triennial FOCAC meetings have helped achieve policy coordination between China and Africa. China’s massive infrastructure construction in Africa has created facility connectivity. The trade facilitation measures have boosted the rapid growth of bilateral trade. China’s assistance and enormous investment in Africa have contributed to financial integration. A variety of cultural exchanges has built a bridge linking the Chinese and African people. It is thus evident that the efforts to implement the five cooperation priorities in the Belt and Road Initiative have already reaped initial results in Africa. The practice provides excellent example for China and other participating developing countries to engage in cooperation to promote the connectivity in the five areas and accumulates rich experience for China to deepen cooperation with Asian, African and Latin American countries in the future.

In conclusion, the experience and achievements in the development of the China-Africa cooperation have not only played a leading role in implementing China’s Belt and Road Initiative in participating developing countries, but also provided experience and reference for connecting China-Africa cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative. It will push forward the successful connection of China-Africa cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative for realizing the goals of common development. It will also make China and developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America more confident and resolved to jointly build the Belt and Road into a road of peace, prosperity, opening up, innovation and civilization.